


Agent Hades' last mission

by makerofaqueen



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Abuse, Alternate Universe - Mortal, Drinking, Explosions, F/F, F/M, Gay Romance, Guns, Kidnapping, Killing, Lesbian Romance, M/M, Multichapter, Polyamory, Serious Injuries, Shooting, Spies & Secret Agents, Spy!AU, breaking ribs, exploding headquarter, fleeing, hermes is an amazing lockpick, mostly by Piper, pretended gay marriage, safe house, she's a beast, with a knife
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-21
Updated: 2018-03-17
Packaged: 2019-03-22 05:42:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 20,425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13757487
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/makerofaqueen/pseuds/makerofaqueen
Summary: For six months Nico has had a new tech in his ear during his missions, since his old one, Minos, got sacked from the agency. The new guy, kode named Apollo, has so far been everything that Minos wasn't. Tonight Nico has gotten a new toy in his mail, a pair of glasses that finally allows Apollo to see what he looks like, although all Nico has to go on is that low, soothing voice in his ear. Still, there's something about the guy...Watch what happens as Nico's latest mission goes heavily south and him and his fellow operatives has to change their old ways of doing things. Maybe techs aren't so useless in the field after all?





	1. Chapter one

**Author's Note:**

> The spy!au no one asked for but your're getting it anyway. 
> 
> I'm telling you people, I've been dying to write this for a while now and finally found the time. So! Tag along for the ride, if you will. It's going to get bumpy and have heavily unscheduled updates. I know I'm usually pretty good at keeping them to once a week or so but bear with me on this one. We can't all be heroes all the time, can we?

HADES

Nico got dressed quickly and carefully, as always. He strapped his gadgets and weapons on close to his body and then he put on his tux and tied his bowtie. When all this was done he put on his glasses and tapped his ear piece. It beeped softly as it came to life and then the familiar voice hit him:

‘Evening, Death Boy.’

Nico eyed himself critically in the mirror while he said:

‘Don’t call me that.’

‘Well, I’m not _allowed_ by company policy to know your real name and what with your extensive body count, it’s the best I could do.’

‘My body count is a myth.’

‘So you keep saying. I’ve heard otherwise.’

‘Why don’t you just use my code name?’

There was a soft chuckle in his ear.

‘What?’ he asked.

‘Well, because I think Hades sounds kind of pretentious.’

‘Says Apollo. The God of sex.’

‘Well… Anyway, have you tried the new glasses on that I sent you?’

‘Yeah, I’m wearing them now. Why?’

‘Tap the logo.’

Nico did as he was told and could feel a tiny vibration as the glasses powered up. Then, Apollo’s voice in his earpiece:

‘Nice. Are we going to a party?’

‘You can see me?’

‘Through your glasses, yes. Gives us the advantage of four eyes instead of just your two. Also, turn your head and look at something. Anything, and then tap the logo slightly like you just did.’

Nico looked at his coat hanging on the rack. A green frame appeared around the coat on his glass lens, along with text that said:

‘Armani. Tailored. Black, with red lining. Bought in 2015.’

‘Cool…’

‘Yes, well, they do help.’

‘I’d say.’

‘I got them from Hephaestus just the other day and he’s also been distributing them to the other agents. Quite proud of them, he was.’

‘He’s a genius.’

‘We’re all geniuses here, Death Boy.’

Nico rolled his eyes at the nickname.

‘Don’t roll your eyes at me, young man.’

‘Oh, right, you can see me now.’ Nico met his own eyes in the mirror and smirked. ‘So… Do you like what you see, _Apollo_?’

‘Yes, well, hrm…’ Apollo stuttered before his earpiece went quiet. Nico fought the wide smile that was tugging at his cheeks.

‘We’re going on a reconnaissance mission. There’s a party uptown, at Luke Castellan’s place. Our target is supposed to be there and I want to check him out.’

‘I’ll get you on the guest list.’

‘Thank you, Apollo.’

Nico went outside and hailed a cab. Once settled his mind started drifting towards the voice in his ear piece. Apollo had been there for six months now, helping him along on every mission. The new guy was a blessing compared to the jackass who had been his tech before, Minos. Nowadays, he actually felt like he had some support and not just someone who was along for the cool ride.

Nico liked Apollo. He was witty, intelligent and had a foul mouth that Nico could appreciate. He seemed to tackle any obstacle they came across with his brains and his humor and never allowed himself to be put down by anything.

‘Hey, Death Boy?’

‘Yeah?’ Nico muttered. He didn’t want the cab driver to hear him.

‘I took the liberty of signing up your name on the guest list as one James Watson. You’re an heir and a philanthropist who spends his money helping the poor. The reason no one’s heard of you is because you like it that way.’

‘Right, thanks. And why am I attending this party today?’

‘Because your father has urged you to step out of the shadows so you can find yourself a proper, suitable A-list mate. You know, to ensure the family lives on. As an only child it is your duty.’

‘Mate? What am I, an animal?’

‘Well, I don’t know your preferences Death Boy so I was going for gender neutral.’

‘Well, thank you for your kind consideration,’ Nico said with a sarcastic note to his voice as he got out of the cab.

‘Well, in these days, it’s very rude to assume straightness, isn’t it?’

‘Who am I talking to? Captain LGBT+?’

‘Something like that. Ah, the Castellan-mansion.’

‘Is it true that the old lady is locked away in the attic, stir-crazy?’ Nico asked.

‘Nope, urban myth,’ Apollo said in his ear. ‘However, she is stir-crazy, locked away at a mental hospital in the outskirts of town. The family business is now run by Luke, her son. His information should be on your screen.’

Nico’s glasses lit up with a picture of Luke Castellan and some short personal info. Nico knew all this already. He had been going after Castellan for years but somehow the man always seemed to slip between his fingers. This time, though, this time, Nico would succeed.

He entered the party, his name and photo on the list just as Apollo had promised. When he entered he stood for a while on the balcony and took in the view. Suddenly, a hand grabbed his shoulder. Nico whirled around and grabbed whoever it was that was foolish enough to land a hand on him but stopped himself in his tracks the moment he saw who was standing behind him.

‘Ouch, is this how we greet friends now?’

Nico rolled his eyes.

‘Poseidon.’

‘Hades,’ the other man said and smirked. ‘How nice to see you here.’

‘You shouldn’t have grabbed me.’

‘It’s fine,’ Poseidon said but he rolled his shoulder and winced a little. Nico smirked at him.

‘What are you doing here, Poseidon?’

‘Chiron seemed to think you needed a little help tonight. Eight eyes are better than four,’ he said and tapped on his own glasses, identical to the one’s Nico wore.

‘How’s Athena?’

‘She’s fine.’ Poseidon rolled his eyes. ‘And now she’s screaming in my ear that I shouldn’t answer questions meant for her and just be quiet like an obedient dog. Seriously, the woman has issues.’

Nico laughed.

‘Well, tell her I said hi.’

‘He says hi,’ Poseidon said. And then, ‘Yes, I realize you can hear him just fine.’ He sighed and smirked at Nico.

‘So, are we really doing double takes now?’ Nico asked him.

‘Not really. Just, this is a big place and I’m only here for my infamously good abilities when it comes to causing distractions so you my friend can sneak into Luke’s office and copy his hard drive.’

‘With the device you put in my pocket when I wrenched your shoulder?’

Poseidon smiled.

‘The one and the same. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a distraction to make.’

Nico watched as Poseidon walked down the stairs and made his way over to where Luke Castellan was talking to one of his… whatever it was Castellan called his men. Castellans? Poseidon, pretending to be very drunk, threw his arms around Luke and excitedly exclaimed something Nico couldn’t hear but he took his cue and snuck up to the third floor of the mansion where he knew from earlier that Castellan’s office was.

‘Apollo, you hear me?’

‘Loud and clear, Death Boy.’

‘I need you to open the door on the third floor for me, the one to Castellan’s office in exactly sixty seconds. Can you do that?’

‘On it.’

Apollo was quiet while he tapped away on his computer and Nico made his way through the hallway without encountering anyone. They were all probably busy trying to stop Poseidon groping Luke Castellan. Nico smirked at the thought. He knew the other man could be insistent when he wanted.

At the beginning of his career with the agency, Poseidon had been his mentor. Nico had gotten most of his training from the man and they had done a lot of double takes during the years while Nico learned the trade. It was only after he had been deemed ready that he was allowed to do assignments on his own. Now he was mostly alone, except for the guy in his ear who made all the magic happen. On their first assignment together, Apollo had been able to explode a car to give Nico some time to escape. How he had done that using only his computer Nico had no idea, but then again there was a reason he was on the field and Apollo was not.

Nico wondered briefly what the other guy looked like. He felt like Apollo now had an advantage over him because he could see Nico through his glasses but Nico could still meet Apollo on the street and be none the wiser.

As soon as Nico reached the aforementioned door it clicked open and Nico muttered:

‘Thanks.’

‘You’re welcome.’

Nico was just about to open the door when Apollo’s voice in his ear stopped him:

‘Wait!’

‘What?’

‘I detect a thermal image in the back office. Someone’s in there.’

‘The only person who’s allowed in there is Nakamura.’

‘Then I guess he’s in there.’

‘Then what the fuck am I supposed to do?’

‘Tell him you’re looking for the bathroom and seduce him so you can get closer to the computer. You only need a few seconds up close so I can hack it using the device Poseidon slipped you.’

‘Seduce him?’

‘You’re a spy, right? Don’t they send you to charm school or whatever?’

‘No, they don’t.’

‘Then use your natural charm, you have some of that, don’t you?’

‘I’ve never actually… Fuck this is more Eros’ turf.’

‘Oh for fuck’s sake. The God of love isn’t here right now. Get in there, Death Boy, I’ll coach you.’

‘ _You’ll_ coach me?’

‘Hey, Apollo, remember? Bisexual God of hundreds of partners.’

‘Yeah, _he_ was, but _you’re_ a guy behind a computer.’

‘Your doubt in me makes me weep.’

‘As I said,’ Nico pointed out but he still pushed the door open and made a point of being as loud as he possibly could, playing drunk. From the inner room Luke’s second in command, Ethan Nakamura, came walking out. He did not look happy and the look on his face made Apollo gulp in Nico’s ear, but he still managed to draw a deep breath and say:

‘Smile, Death Boy, you’re on camera.’

 

POSEIDON

While Nico was busy trying to make the stern face of the Japanese guard captain melt, Poseidon in turn was busy with trying to _not_ get killed. As per usual. He had approached Luke Castellan, pretending to be way more drunk than he had ever been, and he had managed to get close enough to sling his arm around Castellan’s neck while loudly making sure everyone around them knew how much he had missed Luke since they last saw each other. Pretending not to notice the amount of guards that were zoning in on him, and doing his best to ignore the nagging voice of Athena in his ear, he went on a long rant about everything he had done since they last saw each other and did you know, Luke, that Tim from our middle school class is married with five children by now? Five! Imagine!

Luke looked at him with a bored face and shrugged him off when a handful of his guards had come close enough to handle the idiot who thought they knew each other. Poseidon allowed himself to be manhandled from there and thrown out from the stairs overlooking the parking lot.

‘Assholes!’ he yelled back at them before he flipped them off, then he snuck around the bushes to the left and made his way back to what he assumed would be Hade’s escape route once he had done his task. Poseidon would wait for him there and drive him home. The only problem was the guards patrolling the area and he had counted five of them up until this point. Athena was already drawing up battle plans in his head and telling him where their weak spots probably were. Poseidon was effectively trying to ignore her because he hated planning. This was a man who acted upon impulse and who did it well, so when the first guard came around the corner and almost bumped into him Poseidon swiftly made him sleep with a well-aimed blow.

‘Why don’t you just kill them?’ Athena asked.

‘Because we’re trying to spare lives, here.’

‘Pfft. Hades had killed them all by now.’

‘And that is why he is paired with Apollo and not you. We can’t have two trigger-happies on the same team.’

Poseidon could almost hear how Athena rolled her eyes at him from behind her computer screen.

‘Hello there, _Percy_.’

Poseidon turned around and looked at the man who had spoken. He was wearing all black, even his face was black, and it was impossible to distinguish any characteristics in his face. He narrowed his eyes at the man and was just about to say something when the sound of glass shattering came from above and Hades came falling from the third floor.

 

HADES

Nico smiled widely at Ethan Nakamura when the angry-looking man came walking up to him.

‘Oh hello. I didn’t know the bathroom was already occupied. But I really don’t mind.’

‘This is not the bathroom and you need to leave.’

‘It’s not? Oh… does that mean we’re all alone here?’

Nakamura looked at him.

‘Why?’

Nico took two quick steps and closed the distance between them. He now had Ethan pinned against the desk. He placed his hand as close to the hard drive as he could, and heard Apollo say:

‘Perfect,’ in his ear before he attacked Ethan with his lips. ‘I only need fifteen more seconds.’

Ethan Nakamura was totally thrown off guard and actually allowed Nico to kiss him for a few seconds before he registered what was going on and where they were. He pushed Nico off him but Nico simply took a leap over the desk and landed behind it, his hand still in range. Apollo counted down: ‘Five… four…’

‘What are you really doing here? Who are you?’ Ethan asked.

‘Two… one… done!’

Nico just smirked at him. Nakamura pressed a button he was wearing on his tux and Nico took that as his cue to leave. With Ethan covering the only exit he grabbed the desk chair and broke the glass before he jumped out the window.

 

POSEIDON

Percy had just enough time to watch as the younger man managed to get his life-line out and anchor it to the wall which kind of broke his fall but not really before he crashed into Poseidon and they both tumbled down the grassy slope down to where Percy’s car was parked. They both landed with a thud on the asphalt. Hades got up and winced.

‘That was one jump I don’t want to try again soon.’

‘Did you get it?’ Percy asked.

‘Of course we got it,’ Hades said and actually sounded a little thrown off that Poseidon didn’t have more faith in him.

‘Nakamura was one tough cookie to crack, but I came close enough for Apollo to work his magic.’

‘You had to go through Nakamura?’

‘Yup.’

‘Shit. Well done.’

‘So who was _that_ guy?’

‘The one I was talking to? No clue. He knew my name.’

‘Well, a lot of bad guys…’

‘No, Hades. He knew my _name_.’

Hades was quiet for a few moments while the fact sunk in.

‘Oh.’

‘Yeah. I have a distinct feeling we need to get out of here. Somehow I’ve been compromised and I don’t want to know who else has been. We need to get to the head courters right away.’

‘Did you hear that?’ Hades said. Apollo hummed.

‘Sounds bad, Death Boy.’

‘Shit.’

Poseidon and Hades got in Poseidon’s car. Poseidon put the key in the ignition and the car started. Almost. As soon as the car died down the two spies had a person each screaming with tangible panic in their ears:

‘RUN!’

Poseidon was slightly faster than Hades was and he made it out. Hades did not, not at first anyway. When the car exploded Poseidon was already running but Hades was still trying to get out. He got hit in the back by the shockwave and thrown a few feet before he landed on his face on the ground. Poseidon came running up to him and turned him around so he was lying on his back. He looked dazed.

 

HADES

Nico’s ears were ringing and he could see Poseidon talk but he couldn’t hear what he was saying. Then suddenly there was another face there next to Poseidon that Nico kind of recognized but not really but he knew he kind of should before it all went black.

 

APHRODITE

Aphrodite slammed her feet on the break and the car skidded to a halt beside the burning wreck of Poseidon’s car. Eros was on his feet in a matter of milliseconds. She watched as he ran up towards Poseidon and grabbed his shoulder, then the two of them together carried Hades to the car. Or, Eros carried Hades while Poseidon leaned on him, limping slightly. Poseidon and Hades were loaded into the back seat and Eros barely had time to get in before Aphrodite hit the accelerator and sped off.

‘What was that?’ She asked when they were on their way.

‘We’ve been compromised,’ Poseidon said. ‘Or I’ve been, and Hades was just collateral damage. Either way…’

‘No, it’s not just you. We met someone tonight. Someone who knew Eros’ real name.’

‘Freaked Hermes out,’ Eros said. He listened to something in his ear before he smiled. ‘Yes, babe, it freaked me out too, don’t worry.’

‘Same thing happened to me,’ Poseidon said. ‘He knew my real name. Said it like he relished being able to say it.’

‘Right?’ Eros said. ‘He enjoyed knowing it.’

‘Yeah. Did your car explode, too?’

‘No, we were smart enough to not try and use our car and stole this baby instead,’ Aphrodite said and met Poseidon’s eyes in the mirror.

‘You always did have a thing for stealing cars,’ Poseidon said with a lopsided smile.

‘Is he breathing?’ Eros asked, gesturing to Nico’s limp body in Percy’s lap.

‘Yeah. He’ll be fine. He’s had worse.’


	2. Chapter two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nico wakes up in a hospital bed burned and injured and wait, who is that pretty blonde? Just as Nico thinks that he's safe the world turns to shit around him. Seriously, can't he catch a break? Thank the gods for Hermes and his somewhat unconventional methods.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Giving you chapter two rather quickly here because I want to kick this fic off (also it's super fun to write so I can't really keep my fingers off it).

POSEIDON

When Percy and the others finally reached the headquarters the place was in turmoil. A pair of blondes met them at the door and one of them grabbed Nico and sped off with him. Percy made a move as to follow them but a hand on his shoulder stopped him.

‘Don’t worry. Apollo has medical training, he’ll take care of him.’

Percy recognized the voice. How could he not, he had heard her on every mission he had been on for the past… what? Ten years? Something like that.

‘Athena.’

It was more of a statement than a question. She nodded. Percy was awestruck. The woman was beautiful. She had an air of don’t-fuck-with-me around her and Percy was definitely drawn to that. Her blonde hair was in a messy ponytail and her grey eyes sparkled.

She led him and the others to a kitchen where a man with messy, reddish, curly hair was waiting with steaming cups of coffee for all of them. He was wearing cargo shorts and an old, ripped Captain America hoodie with bleach stains on it. He handed them their cups and they followed him to a group of couches. A blonde guy with a scar on his lip and glasses on his head was already sitting there. As they sat down, the guy with the curls said:

‘I found your partner, Z.’

The blonde guy turned around and looked relieved.

‘Zeus?’ Aphrodite asked. He nodded and gestured for her to sit down beside him. Percy and Athena did the same. Eros turned towards the guy he was standing next to and said:

‘I take it you’re Hermes? I recognize your voice.’

He nodded.

‘It feels really weird to finally get a face to the voice. After three years…’

‘Imagine how I felt today when you wore your glasses for the first time.’

Eros smiled widely.

‘Yeah, sorry about that. I didn’t realized I had turned them on.’

‘Do you always walk around in your boxers at home?’ Hermes asked. His blue eyes were smiling over the rim of his coffee cup.

‘Of course,’ Eros said. ‘It’s my right as an American citizen.’ He took a sip of his hot drink. ‘Herbal tea.’

‘We’ve been together for three years, I know by now you don’t drink coffee.’

Percy watched with interest as the two men locked eyes for a couple of moments over their cups until Zeus cleared his throat and called on their attention.

 

HADES

Nico woke up in a hospital, or something. He quickly sat up and swung his feet over the edge of the bed. A voice from somewhere said:

‘You might not want to do that.’

‘Why?’

‘Because I’ve given you enough painkillers to make you woozy. If you stand up now you’ll faint. Oh, and also, your leg is broken. I’ve got you in a cast but you probably don’t want to put any weight on it for a while.’

Nico looked around to where the voice originated from. A blonde guy in a doctor’s coat was sitting by a desk over by the wall. Nico didn’t think the guy looked that ripped so he could probably take him. But then again, Nico himself didn’t look like he could take anyone and he was a master at close combat, so…

‘Oh, relax Death Boy, you’re at the headquarters.’

Nico sat back down on his cot and looked around. Now, when the guy said it, he did recognize the place, and there was only ever one person who called him Death boy. The guy walked up to his bed and offered him his hand.

‘I’m Apollo. Nice to finally meet you, _Hades_.’

Nico looked up at the guy who called himself Apollo. Apollo… fit. He was tall and had golden, curly hair that fell softly around his ears. With the fluorescent light behind him, it looked he was wearing a halo, or that could have been Nico’s pain-killed mind that spoke. Either way…

‘Nice to… uhm… you, too.’

Apollo raised his eyebrows but said nothing. Nico inwardly cursed. He was usually kind of smooth. Hell, he’d even been able to get close enough to kiss Ethan Nakamura for Gods’ sake. Apollo handed him a glass of water and sat down on his cot.

‘Why are we here?’ Nico asked him.

‘Because you’ve been compromised. Someone knows Poseidon’s and Eros’ identities and probably more of yours’. Poseidon’s car got blown up with you in it. It was a shitty bomb, probably meant more for scaring you than to actually do any real damage. Eros and Aphrodite were smart enough not to try and use their when they met the guy who knew Eros’ real identity. They picked you guys up and brought you here. The others are currently having a meeting in the kitchen. However, we are missing some operatives.

Which one’s?

‘Pluto and Bellona. We can’t get ahold of them and their techs are worried. Right now they’re out looking through safe houses.’

‘Knowing them, whatever they’re doing, they’re together and as long as they’re together they’re fine.’

‘I hope so.’

‘I know so,’ Nico said. ‘Pluto can take care of herself and Bellona… don’t even get me started on Bellona,’ Nico said and actually smiled faintly. He had joined the agency at the same time as she did. They had had a lot of training sessions together. He considered the woman as being a sister to him and he wasn’t at all worried.

Apollo got up from the hospital bed.

‘Now that you’re awake we should get out to the kitchen and join the others.’

He fetched a wheelchair from a corner and wheeled it up to the bed so Nico could sit down in it. He noticed he was still wearing his tuxedo and that it was burnt in places. He’d have to do something about that later.

When Apollo wheeled him out into the kitchen Nico took the scene in. There was Poseidon with his wrinkled tuxedo that also had burnt holes in it. He was sitting next to a blonde woman who Nico just assumed was Athena. Poseidon seemed awestruck by her. Aphrodite had taken her eight inch heels off and rested her bare feet in Eros’ lap. He had taken his tuxedo jacket off and draped it around his sister’s shoulders while he was talking to one of the techs. The guy was on his feet the instance he realized Nico and Apollo was in the room and made hot chocolate in the machine that he handed Nico.

‘You’ll need the sugar,’ he said which earned him a glare from Apollo. ‘Oh don’t give me any of that health crap now, Polly. The kid’s had a rough night.’

Nico looked up at the man wheeling him with a smirk on his lips.

‘Polly?’

‘Don’t ask,’ Apollo all but growled while the other tech blew him a kiss from where he had sat down on the couch again.

Nico opted to stay in his wheelchair while Apollo took the last seat on the couch. Aphrodite was just ending the story of the night’s events and Nico listened to how he had been brought in when suddenly…

Suddenly all of hell erupted around them. An alarm went off at the same time as the medical wing exploded. Apollo was on his feet in an instant, running towards the infirmary but Zeus grabbed him by the waist and stopped him.

‘You can’t go in there!’

‘All my stuff!’

‘Listen to him,’ Aphrodite said as she put her hand on Apollo’s arm. He looked at her with wide eyes.

‘You don’t run _towards_ an explosion,’ Poseidon chimed in. ‘You run away from it. Do you want to end up like Hades?’ He indicated the burnt mess that was Nico in the wheelchair.

Nico frowned, although Poseidon did have a point. Suddenly, another explosion shook the house.

‘Alright everybody, seems like we need to get the fuck out of here,’ Athena said. She calmly grabbed her laptop bag and started towards the exit. That’s when the exit exploded. Poseidon ran towards her and grabbed her just as she fell. Her clothes were singed at the front but otherwise she seemed to be fine. Apollo went behind Nico and grabbed the handles of his wheelchair.

‘Come on,’ the guy with the curly hair said. ‘There’s another way out.’

He turned on his heels and started walking briskly towards the inner center of the headquarters. Eros followed him without question, which in Nico’s opinion seemed like a rather stupid thing to do seeing how the guy walked away from any possible exits. Suddenly Eros seemed to realize they were all standing still because he turned around and snapped at them:

‘Follow Hermes or die. Your choice,’ then he left them there. Apollo started moving, pushing Nico in front of him.

‘What are you doing?’ Nico asked.

‘Eros has a point. Seeing how that exit is blocked, the only reasonable thing to do is to follow Hermes. I know him well enough to realize he’s a complete lunatic, but as of right now he’s the best chance we’ve got.’

Nico sighed and allowed himself to be pushed further into the burning building. The rest of them followed. Poseidon was carrying Athena bridal style. She didn’t seem very happy about it. Aphrodite was still barefoot.

Hermes led them to the stairs and down into the basement of the giant complex. Zeus helped Apollo wrestle the wheelchair down the stairs with Nico in it.

Hermes searched the wall as if looking for something, and then suddenly he pushed his finger into the blank concrete and a door opened.

‘What the…?’ Zeus said.

‘Hephaestus and I installed this a few months back,’ Hermes explained. ‘As a secondary escape route. It’s just about done and it’s not on any blue prints yet. Come on.’

‘Well, aren’t you clever, babe?’ Eros said with a wink and dived head first into the pitch black tunnel. He called out to them from inside. ‘Come on. Does someone have a flash light?’

Hermes reached into his cargo shorts and tossed Eros a tiny flash light.

‘Always ready, babe. Just how I like them,’ came Eros’ muffled thanks from within the tunnel. Hermes blushed slightly.

 

ATHENA

Hermes’ tunnel led them under the complex and after having walked for about fifteen minutes they came to a ladder. Hermes started climbing but her brother put his hand on his shoulder and shook his head.

‘Nuh-uh, I’ll go first.’ He took the safety off his gun and started climbing. Hermes was looking up at him with worried eyes. Aphrodite placed a hand on his shoulder.

‘He knows what he’s doing.’

‘I know, that’s what’s worrying me.’

Aphrodite chuckled. Eros opened the hatch and looked around through a small gap, then he opened it and climbed out. It took a few seconds before he popped his head back in and said:

‘Coast is clear.’

They started climbing. Poseidon was first up but when Zeus made as to join them Apollo said:

‘Wait!’

Zeus turned around with one hand and one foot already on the ladder.

‘What?’

‘How in all the gods’ names do we get _him_ up the ladder?’ Apollo gestured to Hades in the wheelchair. ‘His leg’s broken.’

‘Shit,’ Zeus muttered. ‘He can ride on my back and the rest of you will have to help each other getting the chair up. Think you can hold on?’ he said and looked at Hades.

‘Yeah, but… I don’t think I can wrap my legs around you. One, sure, but not the other.’

An idea formed in Aphrodite’s brain. She took off her stockings and tried their strength. They only needed to hold for a couple of minutes after all.

‘Think these will do? We can tie his legs together around your waist and he can wrap his arms around your neck.’

‘Polly can climb behind you to support him from behind,’ Hermes said with a grin. Apollo shot him a dirty look. It was something Athena was used to. Hermes loved messing with Apollo for that exact reason. He collected dirty looks like treasures.

‘Okay, the chair first. Affie, can you make it to the middle and the haul it up so the boys can catch it?’ Zeus asked.

‘Sure thing, boss,’ she said and started climbing. The first step she took she stepped on her dress and it ripped. ‘Fuck!’ she swore and stepped down. ‘Anyone’s got a…’

She went silent because Hermes was already handing her a pocket knife. She cut the dress off from the knees downwards and then resumed her climbing.

‘If I catch anyone of you creeps looking up my skirt I’ll personally make sure it’s the last thing you ever see,’ she said when she wrapped one of her legs around the ladder for balance.

Athena was barely listening because she was enjoying the view up said skirt. Zeus elbowed her softly.

‘I know, right?’ he said and jutted his chin towards Aphrodite’s butt. Athena blushed and looked away.

Apollo handed Aphrodite the wheelchair which she forwarded to Poseidon before joining him and her brother on lookout duty.

The people left in the tunnel went to work strapping Hades on Zeus’ back. He looked more than a little disgruntled about it but accepted his destiny. Hermes and Athena climbed up and after her came Zeus. Poseidon quickly relieved Zeus of his burden and with Eros’ help he placed Hades back in the wheelchair. Apollo joined them last and closed the hatch behind him.

‘Now what?’ he wanted to know.

‘Now, we get mobile,’ Hermes said and trudged on through the trees. They all followed him without question by now.

After a little while they reached a run-down barn with a heavy padlock on the door. Hermes opened it and they walked in. There was some king of vehicle under a plastic cover which Hermes now threw back. Underneath was a… a minivan.

‘Are we a soccer family of five, now?’ Poseidon wanted to know.

‘If you want to, son,’ Hermes answered totally unfazed. Eros snickered in the background. ‘We have this beauty and that truck,’ Hermes said and indicated a rusty old thing parked in one corner. ‘I’ll take that and one of you can drive the van. Just follow me, I have a place we can go. A safe place.’

‘Alright then,’ Athena agreed. She figured by now that Hermes knew what he was doing. ‘I’ll drive the van.’

Hermes tossed her the keys and they all climbed in while Eros joined Hermes in the beat-up truck. It coughed but came to life, albeit in a cloud of black smoke. The two cars left the barn and disappeared into the night.

 

EROS

They drove for three hours. Eros found himself nodding off, which wasn’t good. His initial excuse to go with Hermes in the truck had been that the tech needed a bodyguard to keep him safe but what good was a bodyguard who slept on the job? However, the car was warm and nice, Hermes was humming a tune and he was slowly rocked to sleep.

He woke up when the car came to a halt. It was starting to dawn around them. The lights from the car were shining on an old farmhouse.

‘Where are we?’

‘My safe house.’

‘You shouldn’t have let me sleep.’

‘I figured you’d wake up if we got in trouble.’

‘Fair enough. Still…’

‘Well, we’re here now.’

Eros and Hermes got out of the car. The rest of them followed. Aphrodite and Poseidon left to run through the house while the others waited outside. Eros was freezing in the twilight.

Suddenly there was a loud crash and then a scream from inside the house, which had all of them on high alert. Poseidon and Aphrodite came out to join them. Aphrodite was holding something in her hand.

‘Don’t worry guys, it’s only Hephaestus,’ Poseidon said. ‘Although, Affie did almost slice him in half.’

‘He shouldn’t have moved,’ was all she said as she put him down on the porch. He had a small cut on his left cheek.

‘I’m sorry, Affie,’ he mumbled.

‘You better be,’ Aphrodite said, ‘I could have killed you.’

‘Your reflexes are impeccable,’ he said and brushed a lock of hair from her face. She blushed.

‘Come on, you dork,’ she mumbled and threw her arm around his shoulder so she could lead him inside again.  She called out to the rest of them:

‘The house is clear, come on!’

When the rest of them had filed in Hermes was lingering outside. Eros turned around and walked back to him.

‘You okay there, babe?’

Hermes sighed.

‘I just haven’t… I haven’t been here for ages. Too many feels I guess.’

Eros went back to him and grabbed his hands.

‘Want to talk about it?’

‘I… maybe, but not now. Now I just want to sleep.’

Eros snaked his arm around Hermes’ waist and led him indoors. A few of them were making beds on the floor around the fire place which someone had lit. Hephaestus was unloading weapons from his duffel bag. Eros eyed the stash critically.

‘Good thing you found us. We’re practically unarmed.’

‘How did you find us?’ Hermes asked. Hephaestus shrugged:

‘I have trackers in all of you.’

‘ _In_ all of us?’

‘As I said. Once I figured out in which direction you were heading it wasn’t hard figuring out you were going here. You told me about this place once.’

Hermes looked at Eros who said:

‘Wow. You bring creepy to a whole new level, don’t you?’

‘It’s company policy. Somewhere, in that extensive contract you all signed when you joined, there’s a note about that.’

Hermes looked at Eros and made a slightly disgusted face. Eros just shook his head and left. He was tired and _so_ done with all of this. As soon as this was over, he was retiring. Maybe he could buy himself an island somewhere and live off his funds for the rest of his life. Maybe his cute tech could join him, he thought.

He flopped down in a corner and settled himself with a blanked around his shoulders. After a little while, Hermes came to join him. Eros offered Hermes a piece of his blanket to share and the other guy happily accepted it. He had to sit really close though to fit under the blanket. _Really close._ Not that Eros was complaining.

Eros looked around the room as Hermes snuggled up to him. Apollo was sleeping with a still slightly bleeding Hades in his lap. Poseidon and Zeus were leaning against each other while Aphrodite had her head in Poseidon’s lap and Athena was in turn resting her head on Aphrodite’s belly. Hephaestus had curled up next to Zeus.

They were still missing pairs, as far as Eros knew, at least two of them, but his sleep-muddled brain couldn’t bother with things like that right now. Especially not with a warm and soft Hermes leaning against him, breathing deeply in his sleep.

 

HERMES

The morning after, Hermes and Eros left the safe-house to go shopping. A lot of them needed new clothes and they desperately needed food. Aphrodite still wore her high heels and cut-off evening dress while Eros, Poseidon and Hades wore tuxedos that were burned to various degrees. In Hades’ case his tux was more burned holes than actual fabric so they were desperate. Also, as previously stated, they needed food. No one had lived in the house for ages, the only reason Hermes had kept it was because of reasons like this.

If he ever needed somewhere to run to.

The rickety old pick-up truck bounced its way into town. Eros was in his tuxedo shirt and Zeus’ too-big jeans next to him in the car. Zeus was at the moment wearing no pants at all back at the house. They didn’t want Eros to go in full tuxedo because that would definitely be eye-catching in this small town.

Hermes had offered to go on his own but the other guy had claimed that he would never forgive himself if Hermes got in trouble on his own. Hermes had argued that he could defend himself perfectly fine to which Eros had just smiled and said:

‘Of course you can, babe. But I’ll just worry anyway so please let me go with you?’

At that, Hermes had melted and agreed. How could he not? Eros had golden puppy eyes and Hermes was a weak, weak man.

Hermes parked the car on the street and they went inside. It was a regular clothing store in a regular small town. They got what they were looking for and was out again in fifteen minutes before anyone spotted and recognized Hermes. Once the clothes were done they went across the street to the supermarket. Hermes grabbed a wheeled cart and Eros started loading it with stuff. They walked around a corner and suddenly Hermes ducked down. Eros looked around, suddenly on high alert, but he couldn’t see any immediate threats. That was, until he heard a voice:

‘Connor! Connor Stoll!’

Hermes winced and stood up straight. A man, probably in his late seventies came up to them.

‘God! Connor! I haven’t seen you since you…’ he quieted and looked Eros over. Connor waited. The man turned back to him: ‘well, since you… uhm…’

‘Went to juvy. Yeah, I remember. I was sixteen. It’s been a while.’

‘Well, it’s nice to see you again. Are you living at your grandmother’s place?’

‘Yeah. We are. For a while. It’s like our vacation-home.’

‘I see. As in… both of you…?’

Eros took his hand and smiled that dazzling, million-dollar smile of his and said:

‘Hi, I’m Mitchell. Connor’s husband.’

The man’s eyes widened for a second before Mitchell let go.

‘Oh. Ehrm. Nice. I’m Mr. Johansen, a friend of Connor’s late grandmother.’

‘How very nice to meet you. I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be rude, but… babe, the kids _are_ waiting for us. I don’t want to leave them for too long on their own, who knows what they’re up to? The house may very well be a warzone when we get back.’

Connor shook his head.

‘Oh… you’re right, sorry. Yeah. We kind of need to go. Say hi to your wife for me, Mr. Johansen, will you?’

‘Of course.’

They left the older man standing by the shelf and as they disappeared around the corner, Mitchell placed his hand in the back pocket of Connor’s cargo shorts and pecked him on the cheek while he winked at Mr. Johansen over Connor’s shoulder in the process. Connor blushed heavily.

When they were back in the car, Mitchell said:

‘So, Connor, huh?’

Connor fiddled with a loose thread in his sleeve.

‘Yeah. Sorry about him. He was my grandmother’s friend.’

‘So he said. You know, it suits you.’

‘What?’

‘Connor. You look like a Connor.’

‘Yeah? I do?’

‘Yeah. Because you’re all freckly and stuff.’

Connor looked at him and frowned.

‘Because I’m freckly. Well, _thanks_.’

Connor rolled his eyes but kept them on the road. Mitchell leaned in and touched him on the cheek.

‘I meant it in a good way.’ He leaned in right next to Connor’s ear, lowered his voice to a whisper and said: ‘I’ve always been a sucker for freckles.’

Connor thought for a moment that he was going to drive the car right off the road. Then he composed himself and said:

‘Apollo has them too, you know.’

‘Yeah, I know, but he’s no you.’

Connor parked the car in the drive way and looked at Mitchell.

‘What do you even mean by that?’

‘Just that you’re my babe.’

‘But I’m not, am I?’

‘Sure you are.’

Mitchell opened his car door and winked at Connor in the process before he got out. Connor just sat there and watched as he grabbed the bags and went indoors. What the hell _did_ he mean by that?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, Eros, what do you mean by that? And why do you leave him hanging like that Eros you bastard!!!????
> 
> But at least they're all safe (for the time being).


	3. Chapter three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Poor Hermes shows his self concscious side. They find out who's been doing all this to them and Eros has a bright idea whilst forming their plan. Shame Apollo gets caught up in it.   
> A few of them get to kiss (squeaaaaal) and Nico kind of (but not really) want to murder Eros.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Been bedridden with stomach flu for the past two days. Not going to work means more time editing fics though, so here you get the next chapter!

HERMES

‘You’ve fallen for him, haven’t you?’ Aphrodite said and smiled that soft smile of hers. Connor stopped stirring in the breakfast pan for a few seconds to turn around and look at Mitchell while he was busy cleaning his miniature crossbow. He sighed.

‘I can’t help it. We’ve spent three years together.’

‘Of course you can’t. Look at him, the man is sex on legs. He’s gorgeous, charming and a perfect gentleman.’

‘You’re his sister.’

‘Well, I can appreciate the aesthetic of him.’

Connor turned around again and looked at the object of his affections. He had been sparring with Aphrodite just a few minutes ago and wasn’t wearing his shirt. His upper body was magnificent to watch. God, Connor thought, I just used the word magnificent. I’m fucking lost. He self-consciously adjusted his own worn hoodie on his scrawny shoulders and ran his hand through his messy reddish hair.

‘Yeah, well, it doesn’t matter anyway, it’s not like I have a chance. Look at him and… look at me.’

Why did he even say that? Why did he always end up spilling his secrets to Aphrodite? It was like she had some kind of magic ability to get him to talk about things he didn’t want to. Aphrodite smiled again and stroke his cheek, then she leaned in conspiratorially towards him and whispered:

‘You’re the only person I’ve ever heard him call babe.’

Connor couldn’t help the small gasp that escaped his lips. Aphrodite looked smug when she heard it.

‘Well, I don’t even know if he…’ Connor trailed off and gestured towards himself. Aphrodite patted him on the shoulder when she passed him by.

‘Trust me, he does. That man has no straight angles.’

Connor looked after her when she left and his eyes trailed over to Mitchell. He had stopped cleaning his crossbow and looked up to meet Connor’s eyes. Mitchell smiled at him and Connor smiled back before he ducked his head and went to get some fresh air. Breakfast could wait while he collected himself a little.

 

HADES

‘Are those two falling for each other?’ Apollo asked the man currently lying on the floor next to him. He indicated the longing looks Hermes was shooting Eros as he cleaned his crossbow. Nico looked over at a flustered Hermes having a conversation with a smirking Aphrodite and Eros who was sneaking glances at them while seemingly cleaning his weapon. He sighed.

‘Yeah,’ he said. ‘They’ve been making googly eyes at each other since we came to headquarters. Honestly, I’m surprised it took you this long to notice.’

Apollo readjusted the moist rag he had put on Nico’s forehead and furrowed his brow.

‘They’ve been together quite some time. Hermes told me, but I don’t remember exactly. He talks _a lot_ and often I find myself zoning out after he’s said a few sentences. I don’t have the energy for that. All respect to Eros who has him in his earpiece.’

‘They’ve been together three years, give or take,’ Nico said. ‘There was this one time when Chiron tried to reassign Eros to another tech about a year ago which ended with him going on strike and Hermes wreaking all kinds of havoc on headquarters. Finally he gave up and just let them be together.’

‘What a love story,’ Apollo said wistfully.

‘If you totally disregard the fact that this is the first time they’ve actually met and Hermes is much too awkward to act on his feelings. As I said,’ Nico mused. He indicated Hermes as he fled out back to get some air.

‘Yeah, well, that,’ Apollo agreed with a chuckle. ‘Speaking of feelings, Death boy, how are _you_ feeling?’

‘My leg’s throbbing and I’m kind of dizzy still but otherwise I feel fine,’ Nico said. ‘I think I got off kinda easy, really. And also, the painkillers that Hermes bought in town have started doing their thing. I’m alright.’

‘Considering you were bombed, I’d say you got off _very_ easy,’ Apollo said. He finished examining Nico and put the smaller man’s head down in his own lap. Nico made himself comfortable, even though the position made him nervous. He actually rested his head in this insanely attractive man’s lap. He didn’t have any suave moves like Eros did, all he had was nerves. It fucking sucked. Maybe he needed to ask Eros for some advice.

Apollo looked down at him and smiled, which caused Nico’s heart to make a rather big leap in his chest. Fuck, he was in trouble.

 

HERMES

‘What did you do to get into juvy anyway?’ Mitchell asked him when they were alone that night. They were sitting on the porch, watching the moths dance around the lights on the roof and sharing a beer, passing the bottle between them.

‘I hacked a bank’s security system.’

‘At sixteen?’

Connor blushed and looked away.

‘Yeah…’

‘Cool.’

‘Cool?’

Mitchell shrugged.

‘So what did you do with the money?’

‘Put them in an offshore account. They never found it. It’s my retirement plan.’

‘Pretty _and_ smart,’ Mitchell said. He didn’t look at Connor when he did it which Connor was rather grateful for because he was probably blushing like crazy.

‘Yeah, well… the way I figure, I can’t keep doing this until I’m seventy so…’ Connor trailed off

‘Me neither, _believe_ me.’

‘What are you going to do?’

‘I have a plan, I just don’t like sharing it,’ Mitchell said.

‘Probably wise in this company,’ Connor said and gestured to the others inside. Mitchell nodded. ‘Maybe I’ll tell you one day,’ he said and bumped their shoulders together.

‘Yeah, maybe.’

 

ATHENA

Athena didn’t get much sleep that night. She was texting all her old resources trying to gauge information about this character who seemed to know their names. They didn’t have much on him, nothing more than the fact that he somehow had both Eros’ and Poseidon’s real names. No, not Poseidon. Percy.

His name was Percy.

She looked down on the man sleeping next to her on the floor. All around her people were sleeping. Aphrodite was on guard duty and was out patrolling the area around the house. She herself was supposed to be asleep but no such luck. Athena knew herself well enough to realize that she wouldn’t sleep as long as there was a threat looming over them.

Suddenly her phone buzzed. It was on silent vibrate. She grabbed it and went into the other room after she had recognized the number on the screen.

‘Talk to me,’ she whispered.

‘Regarding the text you sent,’ the voice on the other end said, ‘three days from now there will be an auction at the Castellan mansion. This Kronos you were asking about, he allegedly has a list with the names of every operative in your organization. Even the retired ones. He’s supposedly keeping it in a locked vault in a plane so that it’s easy to guard.’

‘How do you know this, Grover?’

‘Nature speaks to me. A little bird sang in my ear. Whatever you want to call it. Is there ever anything you’ve asked that I haven’t had an answer to, Athena?’

Athena was quiet for long enough so that Grover took it as her agreeing with him.

‘Anyway…’ she finally managed.

‘I’m going to let you get back to work now,’ Grover said. ‘I suspect you have some kind of plan to… well… plan.’

‘Yeah. Thank you. You’ll be rewarded accordingly as soon as I have access to my funds again.’

‘I trust that,’ he said and hung up.

Athena sighed. A list. As she had suspected and been rather worried about. Kronos had access to all the operatives’ names. Not good. They needed to do something about this.

She snuck into the other room as quietly as she could. Suddenly, someone grabbed her by the throat and pushed her up against the wall.

‘You shouldn’t sneak around like this,’ a husky voice said close to her ear. ‘Someone might… I don’t know… get you.’

‘Really, Affie?’ Athena smirked.

‘Really.’

Athena met the other woman’s gaze.

‘What if I maybe wanted someone to… get me?’ she whispered.

Aphrodite’s pupils dilated instantly. Athena was feeling brave so she leaned in, it was just an inch between them now, and kissed Aphrodite. The other woman returned the kiss, and at the same time made a guttural sound in the back of her throat.

‘As much as I would like to evolve this I’m on guard duty,’ she sighed.

‘I know,’ Athena said.

‘When all this is over, though…’

‘I know.’

 

HADES

‘Okay, listen up people. I’ve been getting some information from my sources and I have a name,’ Athena said that morning as she sat down at breakfast. They all turned their heads at her. She looked like she hadn’t been sleeping at all during the night. ‘His name is Kronos.’

‘What kind of a name is that?’ Aphrodite wanted to know. She didn’t look like she had slept anything last night either. Nico knew she had been on guard duty, but that didn’t explain why Athena had been awake. Nico didn’t know her well enough to know just how much of a workaholic she was.

‘Probably a code name such as yours, Affie,’ Athena said with a smirk. ‘However, he’s in our system as Kronos and he looks like this:’ she turned her laptop around so they could all get a look at him.

‘That’s him!’ Eros and Poseidon exclaimed at once. Hermes nodded. He had also gotten a good look at the guy through Eros’ glasses. Athena nodded.

‘I recognize him too. He’s some sort of arms dealer. If he works for Castellan or if Castellan works for him we don’t know. The information is a little sketchy about that. However, he has the list with all of our names and photos on it and he intends to sell it.’

‘And then we would all be fucked,’ Apollo said.

‘Pretty much, yeah,’ Athena agreed.

‘So, what do we do?’ Nico wanted to know. Usually his head would be busy cooking up a plan by now but his broken leg and the pain that came with it made it hard for him to focus. He figured this once he could let the others do the thinking. He watched Apollo from the corner of his eye. God, that man was annoyingly handsome. Why was it that none of the others were watching him the way Nico did? He realized he wasn’t paying attention to the plan the other’s was trying to put together which he probably should be. Yeah, he totally should be. He started listening again and heard something about stealing an airplane.

‘…and if you guys can’t find the disc, then just steal the whole plane and we can look for it when you get back,’ Eros concluded.

‘Your plan has one fatal flaw,’ Nico said to Eros. The god of love looked up at him from his notes.

‘Yeah? What?’

‘You need help doing your part and all the others are busy helping Poseidon doing his part… I’m the only operative left and I can’t walk properly, let alone run or be stealthy in any way.’

‘Don’t worry,’ Eros said and smiled. ‘We’ll switch it up! Apollo can do the leg work for once and Hades can monitor the computer.’

‘But I’m nowhere near as good with that hacker-stuff as he is,’ Nico complained. He realized he sounded pretty whiney but he didn’t care. Computers usually hated him.

‘All you have to do is keep him online. It’s not that hard, and either way, I’ll be with him and Hermes will help you. He’s totally ADHD, he can keep an eye on two screens at the same time, can’t you babe?’

‘I am and I can,’ Hermes nodded, and he seemed surprisingly proud about that fact, and shot Eros a lopsided smile while a slight blush crept across his freckles. Nico did not miss the emotions in his eyes. Wow. He was in deep.

‘Normally he’s three steps ahead of me in our plan anyway so this will only slow him down a smidge. You’ll just have to be Apollo’s second pair of eyes and ears, the way he is yours normally. As soon as you spot our target say when and I’ll get him for you. Poseidon and the others will take the other half of the plan. It’ll be great.’

‘You’re actually expecting Poseidon to be able to steal an airplane?’ Nico deadpanned.

‘Like hell I am. I’m totally expecting Aphrodite to be able to steal an airplane,’ Eros said and looked at his sister. She smiled widely at him across the table. ‘See,’ he said to Nico. ‘She’s got it covered.’

‘Do you even have a pilot’s license?’ he asked.

‘We’re breaking about twenty laws doing this thing and _that’s_ what you’re worried about?’ Poseidon asked.

‘Don’t you worry your pretty little head about that,’ Aphrodite said. ‘I can fly a plane. If I do it legally or not shouldn’t be a problem as Poseidon already stated.’

Nico grumbled something in return but he let it go. This wasn’t the time or the place. They were all in danger and getting Kronos was their only way of being let off the hook, for now. Before he sold the list.

‘She does have a pilot’s license, you know,’ Zeus leaned in to whisper in Nico’s ear. Nico looked at him.

‘Then why didn’t she just say so?’

‘To mess with you, probably. She can be kind of a bitch.’

Aphrodite smiled teasingly at him from across the table. Nico shook his head, exasperated.

‘Alright everybody. Make sure you get some rest today, manage your weapons and pack what you need. Tomorrow is D-day,’ Athena said.

 

EROS

‘So tomorrow…’ Connor started. Mitchell swirled around and reached for his gun. He hadn’t even heard the guy sneak up on him. Now he visibly relaxed when he saw who it was.

‘You shouldn’t sneak up on operatives like that, babe. It can cause a severe condition called death.’

‘Sorry. Shit. I didn’t sneak, not consciously, anyway. Grandma always used to say I had silent feet.’

Mitchell tucked his gun back into his holster and leaned his shoulder against the pole supporting the roof of the porch.

‘You were saying?’

‘About tomorrow… just… be careful, okay?’

‘Aren’t I always?’

Connor looked at his operative pointedly and started counting on his fingers:

‘Well… there was Berlin, and Stockholm, and London and then there were these one hundred other times when you weren’t, but who’s counting?’

‘Okay, okay, I get it,’ Mitchell said and folded his hands around Connor’s. Connor looked at their hands and then down at Mitchell’s golden eyes. They were glittering in the light from the window.

‘I…’ he faltered.

‘Yeah,’ Mitchell agreed.

They stood like that for a couple of heartbeats more before Mitchell said:

‘Fuck it.’ He took the last step so he was chest to chest with Connor and cupped his neck in his hand while he leaned in to kiss him. Mitchell’s fingers tangled themselves in the hair in Connor’s neck. Connor’s hands came to rest on Mitchell’s hips. When Mitchell broke free Connor just stared at him, dumbfounded.

‘You kissed me,’ he blurted out.

‘I did.’

‘Wow.’

‘Yeah.’

Mitchell smiled and Connor couldn’t help but to do it too.

‘So…’ Connor started.

‘I’m retiring after this. Shit isn’t worth it. I have enough money stacked to last us a life-time.’

‘Us?’

‘Come with me.’

‘Okay.’

Mitchell stared at him. Had he heard that right? He had to ask.

‘Okay? Just like that? Okay?’

‘Yeah, just like that.’

‘Okay.’

Connor gazed into Mitchell’s eyes. His own were as blue as the ocean on a sunny day. Mitchell thought that if he stared into them long enough he might drown. He was oddly okay with that.

‘Where are we going?’ Connor asked. Mitchell shrugged.

‘Hell if I know. I want to buy an island somewhere, build a little house on the beach, maybe adopt a ragged dog off the street. Grow some vegetables. I don’t know.’

‘Can you build things?’

‘Not even a little bit.’

Connor smiled.

‘It sounds like heaven.’

Mitchell nodded.

‘I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately. Retiring, I mean.’

Connor nodded.

‘I guess it’s harder for you guys. You have a… a shorter window of time where you can work before you get too old.’

‘Shit, yeah.’

‘But after this though, yeah. I’ll retire with you. You and that dog. I like dogs.’

‘We can have as many as you like.’

Connor leaned down and kissed his operative. It was a softer kiss this time, a longer and more lingering one, filled with emotions, then the prankster in him took over and he squeezed Mitchell’s butt. Mitchell grunted contentedly.

‘I’d take you to bed,’ he mumbled, ‘but I don’t have one.’

Connor chuckled softly.

‘Yeah, and we’re sharing our room with about ten other people. I’m all for voyeurism, but there are limits.’

‘I can’t wait for that secluded beach house.’

‘Me neither.’

 

APOLLO

Apollo could barely get any breakfast in him. His stomach had been upset all morning. Yesterday, when he and Death boy had been alone, he had said that he was fine with trying out being an operative for a night. Now when the day had come, he wasn’t so sure.

Hades was regarding him from the opposite side of the room. He was talking to Poseidon about something, and he seemed agitated. Every now and then he would look over at where Apollo and Hermes were sitting and frown.

‘You two have an argument or something?’ Hermes asked, because he was Hermes and he just couldn’t let things slide.

‘If we have I don’t know about it,’ Apollo grumbled.

‘I think he’s pissed about M… Eros suggesting you’d make a fine operative.’

‘You think?’

‘Yeah. Eros told me last night before we went to bed that he had gotten dirty looks from Hades all night. He was a little worried the guy might kill him in his sleep.’

‘I think Eros can manage,’ Apollo said dryly.

‘Oh, I have no doubt about that,’ Hermes grinned. ‘Besides, your boy can hardly walk.’

Apollo looked Hades over, but he was careful not to make a show of doing so. He didn’t want Hades to think that he worried about him. He knew the operative wouldn’t like that much.

‘You’ll take care of him, won’t you?’ Apollo asked nervously. ‘Tonight, I mean?’

Hermes regarded him for a moment, and Apollo half expected him to answer with one of his sarcastic comments, but instead his eyes softened and he said:

‘Sure thing, Polly.’

‘You’re not going to give that nickname up, are you?’

‘Nev-er.’

‘Thanks, then.’

Apollo was quiet for a while, before he decided to make use of this new, serious and actually kind of nice Hermes:

‘I wish I knew his name,’ he whispered.

Hermes hummed.

‘Names are powerful things. Through this whole thing Eros and I have found each other’s out. It changes things.’

‘Yeah, I’ve seen what it’s changed between you,’ Apollo grinned.

Hermes chuckled.

‘I’m being serious for once. I heard his when Kronos… That totally freaked me out. You have to realize I’ve been dreaming about finding out his name for years. Three, to be exact. But now when I did… All I could think of was what kind of trouble it would get him in and I wished I’d never found out.’

Apollo nodded.

‘How did he find yours out?’

‘Some old fart my grandma knew recognized me in the store. It was only afterwards that I realized… He said my name fit and that he liked it or something. That’s when I realized things had changed between us.’

‘How?’

‘Before he was this abstract person, code name and everything… Sure I cared about him and I _may_ have been daydreaming about him a little but I could keep my logical distance. Now… He’s a person, you know?’

‘And he wasn’t before.’

‘No, he was a total alien.’

Enough of serious Hermes, Apollo thought. Anyway…

‘Thanks,’ Apollo said. ‘I think I’ll keep my name to myself for a little while.’

‘You do that. Just remember…’ Hermes said and stood up, ‘…when you do say it, make it count.’

Apollo looked over at Hades who was watching him and not even trying to hide it. He nodded at Hermes.

‘Make it count. Got it.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ballsy move, Affie ;)


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shit starts going down, but isn't this maybe a little too easy?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been moving from my place to another this weekend so sorry no update until now. ANyways, here's chapter four.

HADES

It felt a little like breaking the fourth wall when Apollo put on the glasses that Nico used to wear. Since Apollo was facing him and Hermes he was also watching them on the screen in front of him.

‘You look good in black,’ Eros said teasingly at Apollo and bumped their shoulders together. Apollo rolled his eyes and smirked at Nico. Nico wanted to punch Eros in his beautiful face. If it wasn’t for the fact that Nico had watched Hermes and him kiss the night before (and again this morning) he would have been jealous of the flirting tone in his voice. Now he tried not to be jealous because A: they had a job to do and B: just then Eros caressed Hermes’ chin before he kissed him again. He clearly had no interest what so ever in Apollo. Just… damn him and his naturally flirty ways.

Hermes leaned in so their foreheads touched and sighed.

‘Please come back.’

Eros smiled a lopsided smile.

‘Of course. Anything for you.’

‘That’s my line.’

‘And don’t you forget it. Keep an eye out for bad guys, will you? Make sure both me and Apollo here make it back in at least a big enough piece to keep us breathing.’

‘Anything for you.’

‘God your freckles are cute.’

Hermes blushed and shoved Eros in the chest but there was no real heat behind it. Nico looked up at Apollo from where he was sitting in an office chair in the cramped van Hephaestus had arrived in. Apollo was towering over him, smiling down. However did he fit in there anyway?

Nico seriously wished he could be as smooth as Eros was and just sweep in but whenever he looked at Apollo his mouth got dry and he started shaking. Nico was the definition of unsmooth. He did try though, and reached for Apollo’s hand. Apollo looked down on him with questioning eyes. Nico swallowed. He didn’t even know this guy’s name yet, but he couldn’t imagine life without the blonde man.

‘Just… be careful, okay? Do what Eros says, he knows what he’s doing. God knows he’s saved me on enough occasions and last time all I got was a broken leg when I should have been dead in an explosion.’

Apollo chuckled.

‘I promise.’ He crouched next to Nico and leaned in so the black haired man was the only one who heard him. ‘I’ve heard Hermes gush enough about him these past six months to know just how good he is.’

Nico got all flustered having him this up close. Sure, he could pretend to be cool enough for someone unimportant like Ethan Nakamura for long enough to get some data but to actually seduce someone like Apollo? Hell no. He was officially doomed.

Hermes drove the van in one direction. Eros and Apollo were in the rickety old pickup truck driving in another one and the rest of them were filing into the minivan to drive off towards the airfield. Nico was listening to Eros and Apollo chatting in the car, Eros reminding him over and over again about the plan and giving him some tips on do’s and don’ts. Hermes parked the van on an empty parking lot by the river. When he was seated in his chair next to Nico in the back they both heard Eros’ voice in the radio.

‘Babe!’

‘Listening.’

‘Look, we’ve just arrived outside the building where the apartment is. There’s only one little problem.’

‘Yeah?’

‘They’ve installed those car-stoppers that retract into the ground and shoot up when the alarm goes off. We can’t get out of the garage if those are up.’

‘Want me to disconnect them?’

‘You know it.’

‘Hang on.’

Hermes popped in a bubblegum which he chewed frantically while he clicked his mouse about three thousand times a minute and tapped away at an alarming rate on his keyboard. Nico watched him with fascination. The things this man could probably do with computers… Nico didn’t even want to know.

‘So, I hacked the alarm system. I can’t _not_ make it go off but I think I managed to disconnect the stoppers from the general system so they should stay in the ground.’

‘Should…?’ came Apollo’s skeptical voice over the radio. Nico’s heart did a little flip.

‘Yeah. Should. This is the freaking Castellan super deluxe apartment complex we’re talking about. I can’t be sure. You’ve been in his system, Polly, you know this.’

‘We’ll risk it. Nice job, babe,’ Eros said.

‘Anything for you.’

‘There’s that line I love,’ Eros said and disconnected them.

‘Are you doing okay there?’ Hermes asked Nico and indicated his leg in the cast.

‘Yeah… I think so. It throbs quite a lot, but I’ll be fine. Thanks.’

‘Let me know if you need anything. This baby is equipped,’ Hermes said and pressed a button. A coffee machine and a mini fridge rose from the work bench. Nico thought that the last thing Hermes needed was either caffeine _or_ sugar, but he had no energy to voice that opinion. ‘There’s also a pretty decent pharmacy in that drawer over there,’ he said and smirked. Nico didn’t want to think about what that implied.

 

ZEUS

Poseidon parked the mini-van in the woods outside the airstrip. They could see the lights on the runway through the trees. Aphrodite put her hand on his thigh and squeezed it.

‘Nervous?’ she asked.

Zeus looked at her. Her eyes seemed to change color in the low lighting.

‘I’ve never fired a gun,’ he confessed. ‘If it comes down to it, I’m not sure if I can shoot another person.’

‘Look at it this way,’ she said, ‘if it’s either him or you, I can guarantee you that your instinct to live will take over.’

‘If not, I’ll take care of our girl,’ Hephaestus said form the backseat.

‘How reassuring,’ Zeus muttered. Hephaestus leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. Zeus leaned into it and sighed.

‘Ready?’ Aphrodite said.

‘Yeah,’ Zeus said. ‘As ready as I’ll ever be.’

Behind him, Poseidon, Athena and Hephaestus climbed out of the van. Aphrodite followed them and he followed her. When they got out, he pulled her and Hephaestus into a group hug, then Hephaestus stood on his tiptoes so he could reach up to kiss Zeus.

‘When all of this is over, can I keep you two?’ the shorter guy asked.

‘Course you can,’ Aphrodite said. Zeus nodded his agreement.

Poseidon cleared his throat to get their attention. He had cut a hole in the fence and made sure they were all through before he followed them. Zeus felt like the guy was watching him carefully when he crawled through the fence, but that could have just been his paranoia speaking.

When they neared the hangar Poseidon stopped them. He looked around and then met Aphrodite’s eyes. She nodded. Poseidon suddenly pushed Zeus into the nearby bushes and leaped after him. Aphrodite threw herself to the ground, taking both Hephaestus and Athena with her. Zeus heard shots getting fired where they had just been standing. Poseidon drew his gun and leaped out of the bushes, Aphrodite quickly following suit.

 

APOLLO

Eros parked the pickup truck on the street a few blocks away from the apartment building and turned in his seat.

‘You ready for this?’

‘Not really, no,’ Apollo said and felt himself start sweating. He was in no shape or form ready for this.

‘Well, either way…’ Eros said and gestured towards the tall building. They could see it stick up from above the tree tops. ‘There’s no going back now. Besides, Hades is gonna think you’re a hot as all hell freaking bad-ass for doing this.’

‘What if everything goes wrong because I don’t know what I’m doing?’

‘Well, I’m fairly sure I know what I’m doing so you should be fine.’

‘There’s that “should” again. You and Hermes have spent way too much time together.’

‘We’re a great team, what can I say?’

‘Mhmmmm,’ Apollo said and gazed out the car window. ‘So, I guess let’s go then.’

‘Your wish is my command,’ Eros said and started driving again.

They made it into the garage pretty easily. The place was of course guarded, but Hermes had made sure their license plate was in the system. The guards may have raised an eyebrow at the shape of their vehicle in this posh place but they were waved through without questioning. Eros parked the car and the two of them entered the elevator. Eros pushed the button on the floor of Castellan’s own apartment, where Athena had claimed he was being held. They exited and snuck through the hallway until they found a broom closet. Eros picked the lock and let Apollo in.

‘Bingo. You can always count on Athena to have her blue-prints in order,’ Eros said when he turned the light on. ‘Mind taking off that hatch to the ventilation system?’ he asked Apollo. Apollo had half a mind to make a snarky comment about Eros being height-impaired but he was fairly sure the shorter man could kill him with his bare hands so he held his tongue. He reached up and loosened the hatch before placing it gently on the floor. Before he could ask how they were getting up there Eros simply scaled the seemingly flat wall and wormed his way inside. He stuck his head out and looked down at Apollo:

‘Coming?’

Apollo looked around and saw a stool which he grabbed and used to reach the hole in the wall. Eros helped pull him in when he came halfway through. Now they were lying on their sides face to face in the cramped space. Eros put on his glasses and tapped the logo, as well as his ear-piece.

 

APHRODITE

Aphrodite froze. She turned and noticed Poseidon was looking at her. He’d heard it, too. They leaped into the bushes, taking the others with them just as shots were fired. One millisecond longer in the same place and they would have been dead.

Poseidon leaped out of the bushes, gun drawn and Aphrodite wasn’t slow to follow. She grinned as she saw the five guys standing where they had just been standing. She holstered her gun and drew her dagger instead, then she went to work. Poseidon shot one of them in the thigh and elbowed one in the face. Then he kicked the shot one in the back so he fell and the one he’d elbowed got the butt of his gun in the back of the head. He never was one for killing when it wasn’t absolutely necessary.

Aphrodite kicked one in the groin and threw her dagger at another one of them. It sunk hilt-down into his chest and he went down. She did a roundhouse kick and hit the last of the guards in the face. Poseidon was smiling next to her as he wiped the sweat from his forehead.

‘I’ve missed working with you, Affie,’ he said.

‘Dito,’ she smiled at him.

Athena, Hephaestus and Zeus emerged from the bushes. Zeus looked wide-eyed at the people lying on the ground, obviously being in different stages of pain and consciousness. Poseidon walked up to the guy Aphrodite had killed. He drew the dagger from his chest and dried the blood off on the guy’s clothes.

‘Really, Affie?’ he asked. ‘Again with the killing people?’

‘Well, what can I say,’ she shrugged. ‘I’m sorry?’

Poseidon sighed and rolled his eyes. Aphrodite smirked at him, not even close to meaning her ‘sorry’ and they both knew it.

The plane was virtually unguarded now. They had incapacitated five guards already and the last three were no match for Aphrodite and Poseidon. Zeus never had to fire his gun. The poor guy had been so nervous and Aphrodite had really felt for him. She had made sure he didn’t have to.

They were all in the cock-pit. She sat in the pilot’s seat with Hephaestus next to her as co-pilot and started up the plane. Something in the corner of her eye made her turn her head and look out through the window.

‘Poseidon…’ she started.

‘Yeah, Affie?’

‘We have company.’

He looked out the window and noticed the caravan of cars coming their way across the airstrip.

‘Affie, take off. We’ll handle this.’

‘We?’ she asked.

‘Sure,’ he said and pulled Zeus and Athena along with him to the back of the plane.

 

HERMES

‘Babe!’ Came Mitchell’s voice in his ear suddenly. Connor swirled his chair around and saw the face of Apollo uncomfortably up close. Hades was also watching his screen over his shoulder.

‘Listening,’ Connor said.

‘We’re in position, do you have a visual?’

‘I have a tanned, freckly face all over my screen,’ Connor replied. ‘Nice to see you’re still in one piece, Polly.’

Apollo made a face which had Connor laughing. Hades grunted behind him.

‘You’ll have to guide us from here,’ Mitchell said. ‘We’re right inside the air vent.’ He turned his head so Connor could see the tiny square they had come through. He nodded to himself.

‘Start crawling and I’ll let you know where to turn. Make sure you’re quiet.’

‘Promise,’ Mitchell said. Connor couldn’t see it, because all he could see was Apollo, but he could hear the smile on Mitchell’s face. He swooned about that for a few seconds before getting serious again. Mitchell was closing in on his first turn. Connor told him to go left, then left again, then right and finally another left until he saw they were at the point on the blue-print right above Castellan’s apartment.

‘You’re there,’ he said. Mitchell didn’t answer, and Connor knew he couldn’t for fear of being overheard. He killed the video-feed in the glasses but left the radio connection on. Connor and Hades were both listening hard for what was about to happen. Suddenly there was a loud bang, a couple of shots were fired, which had Connor hide his head in his hands and then came Mitchell’s voice in their ears:

‘We have him.’

‘Thank God,’ Connor mumbled.

 

ATHENA

Percy handed them a harness each and fastened them to the rings in the floor, then he told them to pull out their guns and make themselves ready. He pressed the button and the butt of the plane opened up to reveal a caravan of cars following them.

‘What do we do now?’ Athena yelled over the howling of the wind. Aphrodite had made the plane pick up speed now and the noise was deafening.

‘Shoot!’ Percy yelled back and started doing just that. He hit the first car in the front tire and it reared off to the left. Athena wasn’t late to follow, and neither was Zeus. They had both realized by now that it was either them or their pursuers, Athena guessed. She had no choice but to shoot.

The good thing about this setup was that neither one of them knew who had hit who. Athena didn’t know if she could actually live with herself if she had been made aware of which of the soldiers (or whatever Castellan called them) she had actually killed herself. By the look of it, Zeus felt the same way. The only one who seemed to be at ease with what they were doing was Percy. Athena admired that about him.

A car behind them exploded and took another two cars with them. Percy cheered.

‘Take that!’ he screamed. Zeus just shook his head.

Suddenly Athena felt the plane lurch forward and they were airborne. Thank you, Affie, she thought and lowered her gun. Percy choose to flip the remaining following cars off before he closed the butt of the plane and they were finally safe again. For a little while, at least. Now they just had to find the safe with the list in.

 

EROS

Mitchell handed Apollo the curled up rope. Apollo fastened it in his belt and then fastened himself in the vent shaft while Mitchell silently unscrewed the screws holding the hatch to the apartment in place. He took one long, steadying breath. This was madness, what he was about to do, but there was no other way. He just had to trust that Apollo was strong enough to hold him up.

He laid down on his stomach, lifted the hatch up as quietly as he possibly could and lowered himself head first down the hole. Inside the apartment Kronos was sitting at a table guarded by three people. Mitchell shot all three of them before they noticed the man hanging upside down from the ceiling and then he cut the rope, did a somersault and landed on his feet in the middle of the room. He had his gun pointed at Kronos.

‘We have him,’ he said.

‘Thank God,’ came Connor’s response in his ear.

‘Don’t try anything,’ Mitchell said to Kronos. The man slowly lifted his hands in the air and leaned back in his chair.

‘Are you two alright?’ Connor asked in his ear.

‘No bleeding. If you’re worried about the shots fired, those were all from my gun.’

‘Good. And I was. You know I hate when you shoot without warning me first.’

‘Sorry, babe,’ Mitchell said. He actually felt a little bashful. He hated making Connor feel nervous or upset by the things the poor man had to hear through the radio. He probably should have worn the glasses to let him see what he was doing, too. That would have been better. He needed to remember that for next time, then he remembered that there wouldn’t be a next time and that made him smile widely. He realized he probably looked like a lunatic to Kronos but he honestly couldn’t care less because he was eloping with the most beautiful man in the world. He was allowed to smile.

Apollo came repelling down from the ceiling and walked up to Kronos. He took out a plastic strip and tied the man’s hands together behind his back, then they took the stairs down to the basement again. When Mitchell peeked through the tiny window in the door he saw five of Castellan’s men surrounding their car.

‘Fuck!’ he swore.

‘There’s no way out,’ Apollo said. ‘We can’t fight all of them. Not without putting _him_ in the line of fire.’ He indicated Kronos.

Mitchell looked around. An idea was forming in his head.

‘First rule of being an operative: there’s always a way out.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come be my friend on tumblr @makerofaqueen


	5. Chapter five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things start going to shits again and Hermes is basically a fourteen year old girl. Also you should never under estimate the power of juvenile detention.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Second to last chapter you guys. Eeeek.

POSEIDON

Percy took Zeus with him to scour the plane. He knew somewhere there had to be a safe where they kept the list. After about twenty minutes, they struck gold. Zeus found a small office in the back, right before the big open storage space in the very back of the plane. Inside was a safe. After they had gotten Hephaestus to crack the safe and take out the memory stick that held the list, they could finally just relax in the cockpit for a little while. Zeus were fidgeting in his seat. Finally he came and sat next to Percy on the bench.

‘So… you kissed me.’

The guy was blushing so heavily Percy thought he was going to die from loss of blood in the rest of his body.

‘Yup. I did,’ he agreed. Zeus seemed to relax a little.

‘But you also kissed Athena.’

Percy nodded. So that’s what this was about.

‘You’ll have to understand, she’s been my main woman for ten years.’

‘I do. Affie’s been mine for five.’

Percy pondered this.

‘I’m not leaving her. I love her, to be honest I think I always have, but I kind of like you, too.’

Zeus was blushing again.

‘I kind of like you, too. But I like him too, and her,’ he said and indicated the couple piloting the plane.

‘Well, if no one minds sharing, we’ll figure something out when this thing blows over.’

‘You mean all of us?’

Percy smiled.

‘Why not? We can buy a big enough house for that, right? How about an abandoned mansion somewhere in Europe? I hear they have a lot of those there.’

Zeus chuckled.

‘Well, count me in then.’

Percy leaned in and kissed him again.

 

APOLLO

Eros winked at them.

‘Don’t worry! There’s _always_ a way out.’

Apollo was kind of nervous about what that implied. Eros looked out into the distance.

‘Sis! Can you adjust the flight plan slightly?’

Apollo still had the back bound Kronos in a firm grip by the collar while he kept his eyes on Eros who was talking into his gear.

‘Thanks sis, owe you one! Babe! Text Aphrodite our coordinates, will you? Thanks, babe.’ He looked at Apollo. ‘We got two minutes to get on the roof.’

‘They’re picking us up?’

‘Sort of.’

‘Do I want to know?’

Eros smiled that highly unsettling smile that Apollo was unfortunately getting quite used to seeing at him.

‘Not really, no.’

Eros grabbed Kronos by the collar and pulled him up the stairs. Apollo followed them, making sure Kronos didn’t trip on the stairs. It only took them about a minute to get to the roof.

‘Okay. In your belt is a magnetic grappling hook.’ Eros said and showed Apollo which one he meant. Apollo nodded. ‘How’s your aim?’

‘Uhm…?’

Just as he was about to answer the roaring of a plane was heard behind them. Eros smiled.

‘Right on cue, sis.’

He hooked something around Kronos’ waist and yelled: ‘You either run or get your feet scraped off. Your choice! I’m fine either way.’

When the plane was about to pass above them, way too close for Apollo’s comfort, Eros swung his grappling hook and threw it. It stuck with a clonking sound to the back right side of the plane. Eros started running, pulling Kronos with him just as Apollo muttered ‘Fucks sake.’ and threw his own. He hit the plane on the ramp but he figured he should just be happy that he actually hit it. Then he remembered he was supposed to be running. He started moving his feet, which was just as well because the plane didn’t stop. When he caught up with Eros and Kronos, Eros called out: ‘Keep the line stretched or this will hurt!’

‘What will hurt?’ Apollo asked just as the building came to an end under them. Eros and Kronos swung in a bow under the plane because Eros had his line stretched. Apollo fell a little before his was fully stretched. His hips were jerked up and he felt his spine crack. That was going to be seriously painful tomorrow.

Hell, it was seriously painful now.

When he came to his senses, Apollo saw that Eros was hoisting himself and Kronos up, using the grappling hook line. He gritted his teeth through the pain and did the same. The back end of the plane opened and Poseidon and Zeus were standing there, helping them on board. Poseidon relieved Eros of Kronos and pushed him away towards the cockpit. Apollo was lying on the floor, panting.

‘I think I broke a rib.’

‘I think you broke several,’ Eros said. ‘Don’t be embarrassed. Everyone does that their first time.’ He brushed some imaginary dust off his black hoodie and helped Apollo to his feet.

‘How many times have you done this?’

‘In training? More than I can count. However, I’ve never actually gotten the opportunity to try it for real up until today.’ He spaced out for a moment before he said. ‘Yeah, babe. We’re on the plane. You guys can start rolling. We’ll see you at the rendezvous. Apollo is alive and in one piece. Kind of.’ He was listening for a little while before he smiled and said: ‘Well, he’s only broken on the _inside._ ’

‘What does he mean kind of? You okay?’ Apollo heard Hade’s soft, kind of raspy voice in his ear. Apollo had never noticed how nice it sounded until now.

‘I broke some ribs.’

‘You’re okay. A few ribs, that’s nothing. I once stole a car and drove myself across the Nevada desert with a few broken ribs.’

‘You operatives are insane.’

‘It’s in the job description,’ Hades chuckled.

Eros helped Apollo get to the cock pit and well there Athena bandaged his cracked ribs. They both leaned back against the wall and relaxed.

 

EROS

Mitchell was woken up by a scream. He jerked on his feet and looked around, scanning his surroundings and trying to get his bearings. Beside him Apollo looked panicked, apparently he had heard the same thing. No one else seemed to have reacted though. Athena was watching them with calculating eyes.

‘What’s wrong guys?’

‘I thought I heard…’ Apollo started but Mitchell put a finger to his lips and closed his eyes so he could listen carefully. There was another distant scream in his ear, and he could feel by the movement beside him that Apollo had heard it too. The other guy was trembling slightly. Suddenly a voice was in his ear:

‘I know you’re listening, so listen to this. We have your guys and we’re willing to trade them for Kronos. You meet us at the Castellan summer mansion in three hours or the deal is off. I want all of you to come. All seven of you. If you try anything there will be a lot less of the tall guy to pick up. Trust me on this. He is already getting on my nerves.’

‘For your own sake, you better hope he is in one piece when I get there, because if he isn’t…’ Mitchell started but the guy on the other end only laughed. He thought he recognized the voice of Ethan Nakamura but he wasn’t certain. There was a lot of static on the line this high up in the air.

‘Three hours,’ Ethan said and then both their lines went dead. Mitchell tore off his earpiece in rage and threw it at the opposite wall. Beside him Apollo buried his face in his hands and sobbed. Aphrodite was watching him from the pilot seat.

‘What’s wrong, sweetie? Talk to me?’

Mitchell sank to the floor, dejected. He ran his hands through his hair and sighed.

‘Castellan has Hermes and Hades. I should never have left them alone, I should have protected them.’

‘There’s nothing you can do about that now,’ Athena said. ‘What did they say?’

‘They want us all to meet at Castellan’s summer mansion in three hours,’ Mitchell said. ‘They want to exchange Kronos for Hades and Hermes.’

‘Obviously it’s some kind of trap,’ Poseidon said.

‘Well duh,’ Mitchell said. He wanted Connor back so badly that he would have gladly just waltzed in and handed Kronos over if he thought that they would have been allowed to leave alive. He knew it was never that easy.

‘So we need a plan,’ Poseidon continued. ‘But first,’ he said and punched Kronos in the back of the head so hard that he fell unconscious to the floor, ‘we don’t need him to know about our plan.’

‘What _is_ our plan?’ Apollo asked.

‘Athena?’ Poseidon said and eyed his tech. She sighed and rolled her eyes fondly.

 

HADES

Hermes was driving and talking about something that Nico didn’t really listen to. He was lazily watching the dark city pass them by outside the window of the van. He knew he shouldn’t really relax yet because shit could still go down but he was tired, so, so tired. Nico had never felt this tired after an operation but he guessed it was the combined effort of his strong pain killers, the adrenaline of having to listen to Apollo tailgating a plane and the constant droning of Hermes’ voice. The man did not know how to shut up. Whatever Eros saw in him, Nico was blind to it.

   Nico was jerked awake when Hermes hit the brake and the car lurched forward and was trying to stay still at the same time.

‘Fucking lunatic! Where the hell did you get your fucking license, punk? Did your grandma give it to you for Christmas?’ Hermes swore.

Nico eyed the SUV that had parked in front of them.

‘Hermes…’ he said.

‘Yeah.’

‘Activate our microphones.’

‘Why?’

‘Just fucking do it!’ Nico yelled while an Asian man clad in black came up to the car and ripped Nico out of the passenger seat. Hermes, to his credit, managed to press the button so that Eros and Apollo could hear them before a blond man broke the window on his side and grabbed him by the neck, forcefully pulling him out of the car and down on the ground. He scraped his bare knees bloody before Luke Castellan let him go when they were on the same side as Ethan Nakamura and Nico. Luke pulled out his gun and pressed it to Nico’s forehead.

‘Where is Kronos?’

‘How should I know?’ Nico said. ‘I was on a nice, quiet, midnight drive with my boyfriend when you two…’

Luke smacked him across the face with his palm. Hermes screamed.

‘You’re insulting me, Nico,’ Luke said.  ‘Am I going to have to ask you again?’

Nico’s face barely twitched when Luke slapped him a second time. Then Luke seemed to realize something. He turned around to where Ethan had Hermes on his knees on the ground and eyed him curiously.

‘You’re no operative,’ he said to Hermes. Fuck, Nico thought.

Luke walked over to Hermes and pointed the gun at him.

‘Tell me where Kronos is.’

‘I-I d-don’t…’

‘Useless idiot,’ Luke muttered and hit Hermes in the forehead with the handle of his gun. Hermes screamed again and then fell to the ground. That’s when Luke saw his earpiece. He handed it to Ethan who said:

‘I know you’re listening, so listen to this. We have your guys and we’re willing to trade them for Kronos. You meet us at the Castellan summer mansion in three hours or the deal is off. I want all of you to come. All seven of you. If you try anything there will be a lot less of the tall guy to pick up. Trust me on this. He is already getting on my nerves.’

Nico watched as Eros said something that was probably highly provocative on the other end because Nakamura was smirking, apparently satisfied that he had managed to provoke Eros.

‘Three hours,’ Ethan said and then he dropped the earpiece on the ground and stepped on it. He took out Nico’s piece and did the same thing with that, then they man-handled both Nico and the passed out Hermes into the SUV and drove away.

 

HEPHAESTUS

Apollo was crying. Eros was pissed. So were Poseidon and Athena. Hephaestus knew that Hades was basically their protégé, they had taught him everything he knew since he started working with the agency. Hermes had practically been his big brother ever since he himself started. He couldn’t abandon the guy now.

As the plane silently flew across the sky he was thinking frantically. They needed to save the guys, but how? They couldn’t give up Kronos and the list, not now. They needed some kind of decoy to buy them enough time to get Hades and Hermes out of there. He watched Zeus try to comfort Poseidon, holding him and gently stroking his thumb over the guy’s neck. Kronos was still lying unconscious at their feet. From this angle, it was kind of eerie, because that could just as well be Zeus lying on the floor.

Suddenly something clicked in Hephaestus’ mind.

‘Turn the plane around,’ he said to Aphrodite.

‘What?’

‘Turn the plane around, bring it back to where we parked the minivan. I have an idea.’

 

HADES

Nico was lying next to Hermes in the trunk of the car. He was still passed out and his nose was most likely broken. Also, Nico was worried he’d might have gotten a concussion but he’d just have to wait and see about that. He would definitely have bruises under his eyes because of the broken nose. Nico smiled to himself in the darkness when he thought about how Eros would most likely react to his babe being beaten blue. Castellan would have wished he’d never even been born.

He was also worried about Apollo and his broken ribs. Even though he’d acted cool when Apollo told him he felt sorry for the guy. He wasn’t made to be an operative. Neither was Hermes.

Nico had never thought he’d have anything in common with Eros but now they both had fallen for their techs. Life was funny in that way. He hoped Apollo and Eros were both okay.

Hermes groaned next to him and as Nico looked over his eyes fluttered open.

‘My head…’ he whined.

‘You okay?’ Nico asked.

‘Not in the slightest,’ Hermes answered. ‘What happened?’

‘Castellan and Nakamura found us.’

‘Shit…’

‘I’ll say. They want to trade us for Kronos and his list. We’re on our way to Castellan’s summer mansion right now. The others have been told to meet us there.’

‘I hope they don’t listen…’

‘Knowing your boyfriend, he’s already on his way. He was pissed when Castellan hit you.’

Hermes smiled a little. He had blood on his teeth.

‘He’s not my…’

‘Keep telling yourself that,’ Nico deadpanned.

Hermes actually blushed.

‘So… now what?’ he asked.

‘Now we go with the flow and see what the others do.’

Hermes sighed. He shifted so he was lying on his side instead of on his stomach. Nico was equally uncomfortable. His broken leg was throbbing and his head was aching. He decided that next time he saw Apollo he would tell him how he felt. Life was too short to not go after what you wanted.

‘Thinking about your boy?’ Hermes asked quietly.

‘He’s not…’ Nico quieted. He’d stepped right into Hermes’ trap. The other guy grinned at him. ‘Honestly, we’re in the trunk of a car and in the midst of being abducted and you want to talk about my love interest? Nico deadpanned.

‘So you admit that you’re in love with him?’

‘I think I’d be an idiot to try and deny it at this point,’ Nico said. Hermes’ entire face lit up.

‘You two would make such a cute couple,’ he gushed.

Nico rolled his eyes. How had this conversation even been steered towards his own love life instead of Hermes’?

The car stopped and they could hear the doors being opened. Soon enough the door to the trunk was opened and they were pulled outside. A few of Castellan’s cronies were present. Nico watched as they were dispatched across the yard and then he and Hermes were ushered indoors.

They stood in a giant hallway. Now that Nico could get a good look at him he realized Hermes was in a much worse condition than he had originally thought. He was pale, except for under his eyes where he was starting to go blue. His nose was most definitely broken and he had crusted blood under it. Also he was swaying on his feet and Nico was only waiting for him to start vomiting from the concussion.

It only took Hermes a few seconds, and when he did vomit, he did it on Luke Castellan’s shoes, then he fainted again. Nico and Ethan both watched him go down while Luke was staring at his shoes in disbelief.

‘Eros is not going to like that,’ Nico muttered. Ethan Nakamura slapped him in the back of the head, then he yanked at his arm:

‘Come on,’ he growled.

A big gorilla carried Nico and another one carried Hermes to a room where they were left alone and locked in. Nico was sitting on the floor with his back against the couch. Finally he had enough alone time to reflect on his situation. He came to the conclusion that it was shit.

‘You look sad.’

Nico flinched. Hermes was regarding him with his startling blue eyes. The guy was sitting up now.

‘Yeah, well…’ Nico said. ‘Aren’t you supposed to be unconscious?’

‘I woke up when they dropped me on this floor. I can’t believe I puked on Luke Castellan.’

‘ _I_ can’t believe you puked on Luke Castellan,’ Nico said. Hermes shifted in his seat.

‘What are we going to do now?’ he asked.

‘Well, if I didn’t have these cuffs on I could maybe find us a way out of here,’ Nico mused.

‘I’m working on it,’ Hermes said, then he dropped his cuffs on the floor. Nico stared at him in disbelief.

‘How the hell…?’

‘Juvy.’

‘Do mine.’

Hermes kneeled next to Nico on the floor. It was a lot quicker to pick the lock on someone else’s cuffs than his own. A few seconds later Nico was freed. Hermes was already going through the cabinets. He found some bottled water and threw Nico one before he opened hi own and rinsed his mouth.

‘Neat,’ he said. ‘I hate the taste of puke.’

‘I think everyone does.’

Hermes popped open a box of breath mints he apparently had stashed in his cargo shorts. He took one before offering the bow to Nico. He declined with a shake of his head. Hermes shrugged and put it back in his shorts.

Nico stood up and tried to put pressure on his injured leg but it didn’t work. He had to bite down on his lip to avoid groaning loudly from the pain. He sat back down on the couch.

‘You’ll have to look around for an escape route,’ he said to Hermes. It was kind of unnecessary since the other guy was already checking the windows but Nico didn’t want to leave the guy too much to his own devices. He’d heard enough crazy stories about him from Eros to think the tech was absolutely insane. However, he really didn’t have much choice since he couldn’t walk.

‘Windows are all locked and barred,’ Hermes said.

‘Did you try the door?’

‘Hang on…’

Hermes placed his hand on the door knob but before he could turn it there were muffled voices from outside. A key was put in the lock and the door started to open. Hermes stared at the opening door with horror evident on his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't believe you puked on Luke Castellan's shoes either, Hermes. And honestly, talking about boys in the trunk of a car? That's how you know you're gay.


	6. Chapter six

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hermes is terrified as the door opens, what is he going to do? Apollo gets to work the field again and Zeus does some leg-work too. Aphrodite is a total badass again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter you guys!! Eeeeeeek! It's ben fun and I've loved writing this. Thank you all of you for your comments along the way.

HERMES

Connor was in no way slow in the head. If anything, his mind was too quick, and he quickly decided that his best chance was to try and hit the person behind the door before whomever it was hit him. Hades stared at him with wide eyes as the door slowly opened. Connor snatched the door out of the hands of the person on the other side and threw it wide open while he attacked whoever was outside. He was, of course, quickly overpowered and wrestled to the ground. _Well, at least I tried_ , he thought and got ready to draw his final breath before he recognized Mitchell’s face on top of him.

‘Whoa there, slugger,’ Mitchell said with a smirk on his face.

‘You came!’ Connor attacked Mitchell’s lips with his own, totally forgetting that he puked earlier and probably was totally gross right now. They made out ferociously on the floor until Mitchell was pulled up by the collar by Poseidon who had had enough of them for the time being. He placed Mitchell on his feet and then helped Connor get up from off the floor.

‘I’m so glad you’re safe, babe,’ Mitchell said. He let his index finger slide over Connor’s beat-up face. ‘Does it hurt a lot?’

‘It’s fine.’

‘I should have been there to protect you.’

Connor leaned in so their foreheads touched.

‘Don’t worry about it. I said I’m fine.’

‘As much as I enjoy watching this saliva streaked reunion, we kinda have to split,’ Poseidon said.

‘What’s your plan?’ Hades wanted to know. He was sitting on the edge of the couch, ready to leave.

‘To get you guys out of here,’ Poseidon said like it was the easiest thing in the world. ‘You’ll have to piggy-back me. Apollo is currently causing a distraction. Don’t worry, the others are looking out for him,’ he quickly added when Hades started looking panicked. ‘Eros and I are in charge of getting you two out of here in the meantime.

Mitchell and Connor both helped Nico get onto Poseidon’s back. He didn’t look at all comfortable with being carried, but he couldn’t walk, so…

Mitchell took the lead, making sure the rest of them made it out of the mansion safely. He and Poseidon had entered through a side door. The only problem was, they didn’t have a car. They had been dropped off a little ways away from the mansion by the others before they went on to the distraction. Mitchell peeked around the corner to the front of the mansion where all the cars were parked.

‘We’ll have to steal one of those,’ he said. Connor peeked around the same corner over his head.

‘Preferably the big black one,’ he said. Mitchell looked up at him.

‘Is that ours?’

‘Yup.’

‘We’ll take that one, then. We need to…’

He didn’t get to finish because suddenly shots were fired and an explosion was heard. They watched as Apollo and Zeus came jumping out from a bottom story window and into the waiting getaway car.

 

APOLLO

Apollo was shaking like a leaf when he pulled up in his car with the limp body beside him in the front seat. He knew Aphrodite and Athena had his back, and Hephaestus too, in a way, the guy was listening to all of them and keeping the plane ready for takeoff.

The reason he was shaking? Apollo was currently their decoy.

The official story was that he had sneaked Kronos out of their hideaway since he wanted to save his lover but none of the others did. Hades was precious to him and he had no trouble trading Kronos for him. The others had not been interested in that. Now, as he pulled up to the gate and the guard walked up to the car window displaying his machine gun Apollo was shifting in his seat. He didn’t like guns.

‘State your name and business,’ the guard said.

Apollo swallowed.

‘I have Kronos.’

The guard looked over at the limp body next to Apollo in the front seat.

‘Show me his face.’

Apollo panicked.

‘No!’

The guard looked quizzically at him.

‘I’m sorry, I’m a little on edge,’ Apollo said. ‘He’s been kind of violent, but by all means, go ahead.’

The guard walked over to the other side of the car and then tried to lift the hood but he got head-butted on the nose. The guard swore and toppled over. He waved them through, much to Apollo’s surprise. He hadn’t thought it would be that easy.

He parked the car outside the mansion. Immediately it was surrounded by guards who grabbed them both and led them inside. Luke Castellan and Ethan Nakamura were sitting in a group of couches in a room on the bottom floor. Apollo couldn’t believe he was that lucky. The guards led them up to Luke before one of them pressed Apollo down on his knees on the floor. Luke walked up to him and looked down.

‘Where are the rest?’

‘I left them behind.’

‘Why?’

‘Because they didn’t think it was worth Hades’ life to trade for Kronos. I did, so I took him.’

‘Hades? Oh… oh you mean Nico di Angelo?’

_Nico_ … Apollo thought. _His name is Nico_. Luke regarded him for a few moments before the penny dropped. The blonde smirked as he watched the range of emotions go across Apollo’s face.

‘You didn’t know his name.’

‘We’re not allowed by company policy to…’

Luke burst out laughing. Apollo watched him with a furrowed brow.

‘You’re in love with the guy and you didn’t even know his name? Priceless.’

Suddenly Luke seemed to realize that Kronos was still bound and hooded. He walked up to him and took his hood off. Then his smile faltered.

‘You’re not…’

That’s when Zeus punched him in the face. Luke went down at the same time as one of the guard’s faces exploded because he was shot in the back of the head. Another guard went down by another bullet as Apollo got to his feet. Suddenly Aphrodite was in there with them. She kicked and slashed with her dagger. Zeus grabbed Apollo by the arm and said:

‘Poseidon says they’re out of the mansion. We need to go!’

He pulled Apollo towards a shot-out window. They jumped through it and into the waiting car. Athena was sitting behind the wheel waiting for them. Zeus pushed Apollo into the backseat. Apollo looked through the back window just in time to see Aphrodite jump through the same window they had exited through. She threw a flash grenade into the mansion before she got in the front seat next to Athena and yelled: ‘Go, go, go!’

Shots were fired around them. Apollo and Zeus were huddling together in the back of the car, doing their best not to get hit. Aphrodite was hanging backwards out of her car window, shooting at their pursuers. Sometimes she swore, other times she cheered and in between she yelled at Athena to ‘keep this fucking soccer-mom-wagon steady so I can kill people’. Athena did her best. Apollo was never this good at driving. She had all his respect right now.

 

HERMES

As soon as the commotion started, Poseidon started running towards the car. Mitchell did his best to cover them but he only had the one gun. He had offered one to Connor but Connor knew he was rubbish with weapons. He wouldn’t hit shit with it so he figured his best bet was to make it to the driver’s seat and start the van.

Bullets were flying everywhere. Somewhere off to his right another explosion was heard. He figured they had placed bombs in the courtyard to try and shake the guards off their tail.

Classic Athena.

Mitchell and Poseidon wrestled Hades into the back of the van while Connor sat down behind the steering wheel. Mitchell was next to him in seconds as he reached down into the darkness by the bottom of the wheel.

‘Shit! We don’t have the keys! How stupid am I? Can you hotwire this thing?’ Mitchell wanted to know. Connor shrugged and smiled.

‘Hang on a second.’ Then he pulled out the spare key Hephaestus had told him he kept there and started the car. Mitchell rolled his eyes fondly.

‘You’re amazing, aren’t you?’

‘Well thank you,’ Connor smiled. He steered the van through the fray of explosions, shooting men and burning cars in the Castellan courtyard.

A handful of cars were following them when they caught up with the minivan. Mitchell waved to Athena in the driver’s seat as Connor pulled them up alongside. She gave him a mock salute, then Connor watched her turn around and shout something at the other people in the car.

‘Shit, they’re shooting at us,’ Mitchell said. He scanned the van and noticed the ceiling hatch.

‘No!’ Connor yelled. ‘No Mitchell I-have-no-fucking-clue-what-your-last-name-is you do not!’

‘I’m sorry, babe,’ Mitchell said, kissed him on the cheek and opened the hatch.

‘Hey! If you’re being suicidal, at least take this!’ Poseidon called out from the back and handed Mitchell something large. Connor vaguely recognized it as a rocket launcher. Why was their van equipped with a rocket launcher? A better question yet, why hadn’t he ever noticed that it was?

‘Neat!’ Mitchell said before he placed his feet on either side of the desks lining the walls so he was standing directly over Hades and could put his weapon and head out through the hatch.

‘Let me know if he dies, alright?’ Connor asked Poseidon.

‘I’d worry more about Hades if I were you,’ Poseidon said. He sounded weird. Connor had to fight the urge to look around. He had to remind himself he was going twice the speed limit on a country road against traffic. Not that there was any, but still. _Eyes on the road, Hermes_! He scolded himself.

‘What’s wrong with Hades?’ he asked.

‘He took a couple of bullets and he’s bleeding out fast,’ Poseidon said.

‘Shit! Polly’s going to kill me if he dies now,’ Connor muttered.

‘Apollo’s going to kill us all if he dies now,’ Poseidon agreed.

‘There’s a first aid kit in the box under the counter, six inches to the left of Eros’ right foot,’ Connor said. ‘See if there’s anything in there that’ll help.’

Poseidon rummaged around and Connor yet again had to fight the urge to look around to see what he was doing. There were two large explosions and then cheering being heard from the roof of the car, indicating Mitchell had hit something with his rocket launcher.

‘Call-out to everybody driving!’ said the voice of Hephaestus in Connor’s ear.

‘Listening,’ he heard Athena say before he said the same.

‘I’ve found a rendezvous point where I can set the plane down. I’m sending coordinates to the van. Follow the van.’

‘Roger,’ Athena said and Hephaestus dismissed the call. Connor pulled up the coordinates on the GPS. Suddenly Mitchell was next to him again.

‘That’s everyone taken care of,’ he said and placed another kiss on Connor’s cheek. ‘I’m sorry I scared you, babe.’

‘Do that again and I will kill you myself.’

‘You have my blessing.’

Mitchell sat down next to Connor in the front seat and winced. When Connor glanced over he noticed the other guy was bleeding.

‘Mitchell, what the hell?!’

‘Oh, it’s nothing. Just a flesh wound. I took a bullet in the arm.’

‘Well, get your firm ass into the back and let Poseidon patch you up. Geez.’

‘Yes mother.’

‘That’s a whole other roleplay scenario I’m going to want to try later, but for now, please just do it,’ Connor sighed, exasperated. Mitchell smirked at him and climbed into the back.

 

HADES

Nico woke up as they pulled into a dirt road in the middle of a forest. The plane was landed on a field. It was hardly visible because it was the middle of the night by now. Stars were shining above their heads. Poseidon helped him out of the van. Apollo came running from the back of the minivan. His yellow hair was shining like it had an inner light of its own, but that could again just be Nico’s pain-killer-hazy mind. Apollo hugged him and then he held him at arm’s length to look him over. Nico knew he probably looked like death. To be perfectly honest he was surprised that he was still standing.

‘You’re hurt!’

‘Yeah,’ Nico mumbled. ‘Took a couple of hits in the back. Nothing serious. How’s your ribs?’

‘I’ll be fine.’

Nico swayed a little on his feet. Apollo quickly grabbed him and led him to the plane. Hephaestus was sitting on the open tail end of it. He was smoking a cigarette and playing with a lighter. Apollo sat Nico down next to him. Aphrodite frowned.

‘You don’t smoke.’

‘Figured this was a good a time as any to start,’ he shrugged. She answered by slapping the cigarette out of his mouth, then she proceeded to kiss him.

‘If not smoking means I get to do this more often, I can always quit again,’ he grinned. She slapped the back of his head. He pecked her fondly on the cheek.

‘So now what?’ Apollo asked. ‘What do we do with the list, and Kronos, and…’

‘I have a contact that can help us with that,’ Athena said. ‘He’s standing by for a drop-off of both the list and the arms dealer. He’ll make sure Kronos gets what he deserves. As far as the list goes…’

‘I’ve already taken care of the list,’ Hephaestus said. ‘It’s deleted and un-saveable.’

‘Nice,’ Poseidon said.

‘We should split up,’ Athena said. ‘Lay low for, say, five years or so. That would give us all a good chance to get our lives back in order after this. Then we can all meet up again.’

‘I’ll send an invite,’ Hermes said. They all nodded.

‘Well kids, it’s been fun and all,’ Eros said, ‘but I have a van to catch. Come on babe, let’s go.’

Eros kissed his sister on the cheek, then Hermes slung his arm around Eros’ waist, waved goodbye to the rest of them and then they climbed into the black van. They all watched as the couple disappeared through the trees.

‘We’ll take the plane, you can take the minivan,’ Poseidon said to Apollo. Apollo caught the keys Athena threw him. The rest of them started filing into the plane. Nico watched them go. Poseidon turned around and frowned: ‘You’re not coming?’

Nico looked at Apollo. The blond guy smiled down at him and grabbed his hand, interlacing their fingers. Nico shook his head at Poseidon. That was a mistake. Everything started spinning at that moment.

‘Don’t worry P, I’ll take care of him,’ Apollo said and swept Nico up bridal style. Poseidon nodded thoughtfully.

‘Well, see you in five years, then.’

‘See you in five years,’ Apollo agreed. He carried Nico off towards the minivan. Nico was tugging at the edge of unconsciousness. Apollo gingerly sat him down in the minivan and strapped him in.

‘So it’s you and me now, huh?’ he chuckled.

‘Yeah. Wouldn’t have it any other way,’ Nico mumbled.

‘You look like death… boy,’ Apollo smirked.

‘Oh ha ha.’ Nico looked up at Apollo. It took a lot of effort for him. He had decided to let the man know how he felt if they ever saw each other alive again. Here goes, Nico thought: ‘I… I think I love you, but I don’t even know your name.’

Apollo smiled at him and leaned in. He kissed Nico. It was a soft, breezy, ghost of a kiss, then he whispered into Nico’s ear:

‘Will. My name is Will Solace.’

Then Nico’s world went black.

 

**PROLOGUE:**

HADES

‘Hurry up, the plane is leaving!’

Nico rolled his eyes.

‘The plane can wait.’

‘We’ll be late. I want to leave now.’

‘There’s no time limit. Honestly.’

Will was already sitting in the tiny cockpit with his sunglasses on, fiddling with the buttons when Nico dumped his luggage in the back and climbed in next to him.

‘Think they’re already there?’ he asked. ‘That’s why you’re so anxious?’

Will shrugged.

‘I just want to see them again. Five years is a long time.’

‘Yeah, it is,’ Nico agreed. ‘I’m anxious too, but hey, we’re on our way now.’

Will roared the plane’s engines and they took off. It was a four hour flight with the small plane. As it had turned out from the invitation, Eros and Hermes didn’t live that far from Nico and Will but they had made a pact of not contacting each other as a way of keeping each other safe. Everyone would meet at Hermes’ and Eros’ place five years on the day when they had successfully finished their last operation and retired.

Nico and Will had retired to a small cottage in the Italian countryside. Nico was growing grapes and making wine which he sold to the restaurants in the villages around them. Will was volunteering as a doctor at a children’s orphanage a few times a week. He absolutely loved it. Nico had no idea where the other’s had gone to, but he assumed they were all together, or at least close. He’d had a hard time grasping the group dynamic during their time in Hermes’ cottage, but he had gathered that Poseidon and Athena had a thing for each other, but Athena also had a thing for Aphrodite. Those feelings were reciprocated. However, Aphrodite was also with both Zeus and Hephaestus. Also, Nico thought Zeus and Poseidon had a thing together. It was a mess and he got a headache just thinking about it. He would have to ask Athena about it when they met.

Will flew them over the open water while Nico watched the scenery go by below them. He knew Eros hade made good on his promise and actually bought a tiny island. They had gotten the coordinates in an encrypted text from Hermes just the other day. Will had been ecstatic. He had started to think that his friend had forgotten all about their promise to not get in contact, but to meet up after five years but when Hermes texted he had almost cried from joy. Nico had too, secretly of course, because he had a reputation to uphold to his spouse.

 

HERMES

Connor was pulling out a t-shirt from his wardrobe, but before he could put it on an arm snaked around his waist from behind. Mitchell pressed their naked torsos together and kissed him in the neck.

‘Why do you still have that? After all these years?’

Connor dropped the t-shirt on the bed and took out the item Mitchell had referred to. It was his bleach-stained, tattered old captain America hoodie.

‘Sentimental value,’ he said and pulled the hoodie over Mitchell’s head with a smile, only then realizing that the other man was naked. Well, except for the hoodie. Connor eyed him hungrily, then he pushed him down on his back, hoodie still on. Mitchell smiled at him from on the bed.

‘You know they should be arriving soon, right?’

‘Our guests?’

Mitchell nodded. Connor climbed on top of him and smiled into the kiss.

‘They can wait on the patio.’

 

APHRODITE

It was a long flight to the coordinates Hermes had sent them, but that didn’t matter much to Aphrodite. She was happy to finally get to see her brother again. Five years was a long time. She eyed the blond sleeping next to her. Annabeth had been up all night, making sure they all packed and was ready to go at the set time. She was their organizer. Aphrodite looked at the other blond sleeping on the other side of her. If Annabeth was their organizer, Jason was their mom. And they were all still happy together. What a life.

Leo had said that the coordinates indicated a warm place so she had packed multiple swimming suits. When the plane touched down on the water next to a tiny island there were already two smaller planes parked there. A white bungalow was built right off the beach, so you could walk from the living room down into the sand.

A ragged dog greeted them when they left the plane and joined them as they walked on the wooden walkway up to the house. Two more dogs were sleeping in the shade. Hermes, Hades and Apollo were sitting on the patio, drinking cold beers. All three of them looked to be in much better shape than last time she saw them. She remembered Hermes’ beat up face, Hades with the broken leg and the bullet wounds and of course Apollo and his broken ribs. She chuckled a little when she remembered the broken ribs.

Her brother was standing up, waiting for them. Aphrodite couldn’t help herself. She dropped everything she carried and ran to her brother. Percy and Jason picked it up and divided it amongst themselves. She hugged him tight and squealed. He laughed and hugged her back.

‘It’s so good to see you, Pipes,’ he said.

‘You too. I’ve missed you like crazy.’

‘Well, you’re all here now. Come on in, I’ll give you a tour of the house.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you think :)

**Author's Note:**

> So, what do you think so far? Any guesses on who's who? Comments and kudos are my lifeblood, so please drop one ;)
> 
> Come befriend me on tumblr at makerofaqueen please.


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